


Turns Out Being a Super Hero Is Actually Really Gay!

by Radioactive_Ducky



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Crushes, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of Death, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Spiderverse AU, Swearing, chinese/vietnamese virgil, come on they're teenagers, italian patton, latin/native american remy, mexican roman, mostly fluff if i can help it, muslim logan, no one dies I swear, super hero
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-10-10 09:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 71,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17423297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radioactive_Ducky/pseuds/Radioactive_Ducky
Summary: For the longest time Rainbow Weaver (aka Thomas) has been the lone savior of Manhattan, that is until four students on a field trip are bitten by a much more powerful and enhanced super spider. Now it's up to Thomas to train Patton, Logan, Roman and Virgil so that they can properly function in society and maybe kick so butt on the way.





	1. The Ittsy Bittsy Spider Is Not To Be Messed With

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So, I’ve made the terrible decision of making a multi chapter story based off of @sugarglider9603 and @ask-spiderverse-virgil Sander Sides Spiderverse AU on Tumblr. I wasn’t gunna post anything until I had written out at least five chapters but then I got carried away and was like “yeah, this is gunna take a while.” So, I decided to be like fuck it and give this to y’all early, maybe it’ll give me motivation to write faster. NOTE: Logan is Muslim, Virgil is Chinese/Vietnamese, Patton is Italian, and Roman is Mexican. I myself am Mexican so if it seems like Roman is getting a little bit more cultural attention it’s because I don’t want to risk offending anybody. I can only do so much research by myself so if any of y’all have any tips on appropriately writing the characters please do tell me. I will also be posting this on Tumblr so keep a look out for that if you want. Any ways, I’ve rambled enough ENJOY!!!
> 
> Trigger Warning: panic attacks, vomiting, fainting, mentions death and characters canonically dead. Don’t worry no one dies! This is mainly near the end so I’ll put a warning marker where you can stop and skip to the bottom for a brief summary.

“ _I’m the lonely twin, the left hand/ Reset myself and get back on track,_ ” Virgil hummed, his phone played out a gentle tune as he scrolled through his Tumblr feed on his laptop. Rainbow Weaver was number one on trending again after defeating a major villain yesterday and Virgil desperately needed to update his fan page as soon as possible.

“Virgil! You’re going to be late again!” His mother called from the kitchen.

“In a minute Má!” Virgil called back as he quickly finished typing his post. It was a photo of Rainbow Weaver and Rhino, they were in mid battle and the shot was taken just before Rainbow Weaver delivered the final blow. It was awesome.

**_Rainbow Weaver, the prime example of “while you were being heterosexual, I studied the blade!” Or in his case learned sick ass martial arts moves!_ **

“Virgil! You have a field trip today!” Mrs. Storm warned in that tone that said she’d bust into his room if he didn’t hurry the hell up.

“Okay, okay, I’m going!” Virgil replied, closing up his lap top before grabbing his phone and backpack. He quickly jogged out into the living room/kitchen space of their apartment where his mother, father and his grandmother were all eating breakfast.

“Bá made some porridge if you want some?” Mrs. Storm said as she looked over some work reports at the table, her own bowl of porridge having probably gone cold by now.

“Hmm.” Virgil responded, rummaging through the fridge for an apple.

“You need to eat something Virgil,” Mr. Storm scolded “you’re getting too skinny even for a dancer.”

Grandma nodded in agreement, “You keep eating like that you’ll disappear one day, Piglet.”

“Well, I’m not gone yet,” Virgil smirked, taking a bit of his apple and starting his way back to his room, kissing his parents and grandma on the way “but if it makes you feel better, I’ll eat something on my way to school, promise.”

Mrs. Storm huffed in amusement, “Where does that boy get such an attitude?”

Mr. Storm stared at his wife’s untouched bowl of porridge and smirked, “Yes, I wonder where?”

Virgil cracked open the window to the fire escape and began his descent down to the floor below. He peered in through one of the windows where he saw a figure hunched over a desk in a room much neater then his own. Virgil knocked loudly to get his attention and waved when the boy turned to look at him.

The window opened and a slightly miffed Logan poked his head out, “You know we have a front door, right?”

“What’s that?” Virgil snickered as he climbed in, careful not to knock over any of the countless models lined across the shelves near the window. He was successful most times.

Logan sighed as he packed up his things in his backpack, “I am to assume you skipped breakfast, correct?”

“Yes, and I would be very happy if you didn’t tell your mom so she won’t stop me and stuff my face.” Virgil said honestly.

“Don’t worry,” Logan said as he hefted up his backpack and walked out of his room “she probably already knows.”

Virgil groaned.

Just as predicted Mrs. Quinn stopped them just as they reached the living room, “Virgil, hello, have you eaten yet?”

“Yes, Mrs. Quinn.” Virgil fibbed, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie.

Her eyes squinted at him, hard and serious, “It’s bad to lie to your elders, Virgil.”

Logan and Logan’s Mr. Storm, who was seated in his armchair in the living room with a newspaper, snorted, “Why do even try anymore child?”

“Because I believe that one day, I’ll be able to get away with it,” Virgil half joked as he was force to sit and take a bowl of fava beans and peta bread “I mean it’s a dirty lie but I have to believe in something, right?”

“Best start believing in something else,” Mrs. Quinn chuckled as she began whipping down the rest of the dishes “by the way, are you coming over for dinner this weekend? Morgan is coming home.”

“Oh really?” Virgil said with a side glance to Logan who merely rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“Yes, he finished up his study abroad early and got an intern ship at Oscorp Industries,” Mrs. Quinn cheered “isn’t it wonderful? I kept telling Logan that if he took a few more extra classes he might be able to get an internship as well, alongside his brother.”

“Uh, those things a pretty rare to come by, especially if you’re still in high school,” Vigil said chewing on a piece of peta bread, he could sense the annoyance radiating off of Logan the longer the conversation continued.

“Rare but not impossible,” Mr. Quinn added “I heard that there was a young man a few years back that was able to get an internship there. So, it shouldn’t be too hard for Logan to achieve one as well. Morgan had been offered the position before, in high school, but he was far to busy with his extracurricular activities.”

Logan’s eye twitched, “Babá, I don’t think-”

“Logan, we’re gunna be late for the field trip!” Vigil said suddenly, quickly shoveling in the rest of his breakfast. He’d probably regret it later but Logan was being put on the spot and Vigil knew better then anyone how uncomfortable that could be on someone.

“Oh, it’s that field trip to Oscorp, yes?” Mrs. Quinn asked “Maybe you’ll be able to see Morgan at work? Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Logan sighed tiredly as he went up to kiss his mother, “Yes it would, bye Ummi, bye Babá.”

“Have fun, my love.” Mrs. Quinn cooed as she kissed her son’s forehead.

“Be safe.” Mr. Quinn added as Logan bent down to kiss him as well before heading out the door with Virgil. Once outside the building they began walking their usual rout to school, the city of Brooklyn bustling with life.

“Thank you.” Logan said after a few silent minutes.

“Yeah, no problem,” Virgil replied, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie so as to shield them from the cold autumn air “but other than…that you excited to see your brother again? I heard there’s this new sci-fi movie out in the drive-in theater, maybe we can all hang out?”

Logan made a dull noise of uncertainty, “I’m…not sure. He said something about us going to the planetarium during his visit but I’m not sure if I want to go.”

Virgil’s eyes widen in disbelief, “But you love the planetarium.”

“I’m not sure if I want to go with…him.” Logan corrected.

“Why not?” Virgil asked curiously. He knew that Logan’s parents had this bad habit of comparing Logan with his older brother, Morgan, but despite it the two brothers got along really well. Morgan always treated Logan as an equal and with the up most respect and Logan adored his older brother.

Logan sighed, “I’m not sure.”

“You’re saying that a lot.” Virgil pointed out.

“I know and I hate it,” Logan groaned “I don’t like being unsure or things and having messy feelings mixed into it is just making it a whole lot worse!”

“Congrats, you’re human.” Virgil smirked, bumping his friend’s shoulder playfully.

Logan snorted, bumping back, “Shut up.”

—

At the same time on the other side of the city Roman Marigold was corralling his two younger siblings into their school uniforms as his sister helped his mother make breakfast. Jenni and Marco were a bit too hyper this morning because of course the had to be when Roman was already running late. Currently he was trying to do up Jenni’s hair but the little brat was being a squirming mess.

“Ow, you’re pulling.” Jenni whined.

“Well, it wouldn’t have happened if you’d SIT STILL!” Roman growled “Marco, put away your toys and get your backpack ready!”

“You’re not the boss of me!” Marco said bravely.

Roman squinted at him and Marco squinted back, a silent stare off happening between them before Roman decided he had no time for this and cheated his way out. “Amá, Marco no se quiere arreglar!”

“Marco Emilio Flores-Marigold, te arreglas a hora mismo o te arreglo!” Mrs. Marigold screamed from the kitchen and in turn Marco was quick to obey her and picked up all his toys.

Roman smirked victoriously as he finished his little sister’s hair and packed up his own things before heading out to breakfast. The Marigold house was always busy and filled with people, weather it be cousins, uncles, aunts, or friends staying over someone was always doing something. Today was a bit on the calmer side which isn’t saying much since everyone was still running around like headless chickens.

“Ro, what time are you gunna be getting back home?” His older sister Leslie asked as she served the two youngest.

“Well, we’re gunna have the field trip today so we’ll be running a bit late and then I have drama club but if you need me home earlier, I can always skip it.” Roman offered.

“No, no,” Leslie waved off “I was just asking since Marco has soccer and Jenni has dance and I was wondering if you can pick them up after your practice? Because I’m gunna be working late.”

“Again?” Roman asked in disbelief.

“Mmh,” Leslie hummed, sipping her morning coffee “there was an extra shift and I took it.”

“Leslie, you’re gunna work yourself to death before you hit twenty-four.” Roman said worriedly before looking up at his mother who was still cooking and getting everyone’s lunches ready “speaking of…”

He stood from his seat and went over to the kitchen area where Mrs. Marigold was fretting about. He grabbed the pan and spatula from her hands, setting them aside as he led her towards the table. “Amá, siéntate por favor necesitas a comer algo.” Roman pleaded.

“Ay, pero todavía necesito arreglar tus lonches.” She insisted but Roman was having none of that and forcefully sat her down at the table and shoved a plate of eggs in front of her.

“Yo arreglo.” He said before heading back to the kitchen.

“Ya comiste?” She asked looking over at his still full plate. Backtracking Roman reached across the table and began shoveling food into his mouth.

“Mira, estoy comiendo,” Roman said with his mouth full of egg “tú ya come.”

Reluctantly she began eating as Roman finished off his breakfast and began making everyone lunch. Much like his sister his mother worked too damn hard for her own good and it didn’t help that she was equally as stubborn. Luckily, Roman was just as stubborn and could usually coax his mother into sitting down every once and a while. It was during this little internal monolog Roman’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out to find a text from Patton.

 **Bestie <3:** no fire escape hello today?

 **Romaine Lettuce :):**  srry no running late again :(

 **Bestie <3:** its ok :) meet u down stairs in 10?

 **Romaine Lettuce :):**  kk

Patton put his phone away in his backpack along with his notebook and permission slip for todays field trip. He rummaged through his jewelry box and picked out a few bracelets to go with his outfit. He then decided to add powdered blue studded flower earrings and a matching bow clip in his hair. It was pretty cold today so he opted to wear his long khakis and a light blue sweater vest over a pink collard sweater. Just as he was about to grab his scarf and head off it was snatched from under him.

“Alex, give it back!” Patton pouted at his older brother as he jumped up to grab his scarf that was just out of reach.

“I am giving it to you,” Alex chuckled, pulling the scarf higher “it’s not my fault you’re so short.”

“I’m normal size, you’re just super tall!” Patton whined as he desperately tried to reach for his older brother’s arm.

“Whatever you say pip squeak.” Alex laughed before booking it out to the hall.

“Hey, no fair!” Patton cried as he raced to follow his brother all the way to the living room. Alex hopped over the couch and Patton ran around to catch him but his brother was too quick for him to catch. The scarf was snatched away once more, this time by Patton’s other older brother Georgie who gave Alex a stern look, “Leave him alone Alex.”

“Aw, I was just teasing him, Georgie.” Alex smiled casually. Patton graciously took his scarf back from Georgie before childishly sticking out his tongue at Alex who returned the gesture.

“What’s going on in here?” Mr. Foster asked once he entered the living room.

“Nothing, Papa.” Patton assured, as annoying as Alex was, he didn’t do anything hurtful, just some light older brother teasing.

“Alex was just teasing Patton again.” Georgie filled in as he swatted his younger brother across the head.

“Hey.” Alex whined, rubbing the back of his head.

“Patton, mi amor,” Mrs. Foster came out from the kitchen drying a plate “your field trip is today, you’ll be late if you don’t hurry.”

“Aw, man.” Patton squeaked as he put on his scarf, raced back to his room to grab his back pack, and raced back out to the living room.

“Did you eat breakfast?” Mrs. Foster asked.

“Sí, Mamma.” Patton replied as he hopped around putting his shoes and coat on.

“Do you have your lunch?” She asked.

“Uh,” He quickly checked his backpack “sí, Mamma.”

“Glasses?” She asked.

Patton felt his face to check, “Sí, Mamma.”

“What about a muffin for the road?” She smiled pulling out a warm blueberry muffin.

Patton giggled, taking the muffing before kissing his mother in thanks, “Grazie Mamma.”

“Have fun and be careful.” Mr. Foster said as Patton went to kiss his cheek and head out the door.

“Yeah, try to stay away from high shelves.” Alex called out to which Patton responded by blowing raspberries.

Roman was already outside by the time Patton came rushing out of their apartment building, spouting a million apologies. As usual Roman forgave him and they made their usual trek to school with idle chit chat amongst them.

“Why are we even having a field trip two weeks into school?” Roman complained “I already have a bajillion other thing to work on and who even wants to go to a boring old nerd lab anyways?”

“It could be fun.” Patton said optimistically.

Roman sighed, “I guess, but it’s throwing my whole schedule off. I think I’m gunna have to cut practice early so I can pick up Marco and Jenni on time.”

“I could pick them up for you if you want?” Patton offered “That way you won’t have to miss practice.”

Roman smiled graciously at his friend, “Thanks Pat, but I don’t wanna bother-”

“Oh, it’s no bother,” Patton assured “I’m assuming your sister took an extra shift again?”

“Yeah,” Roman said worriedly “her and mom have been busting their asses to make ends meet lately. But they won’t let  _me_  get a job until the summer because I ‘have school and need to enjoy my teenage life and blah, blah, blah.’ You know how they are.”

“They just want you to be happy, Ro,” Patton said sympathetically “all you can do for them now is work hard at school and be the best you, you can be.”

“Thanks Patton,” Roman smiled but sighed again “but I still feel like I could be doing more.”

—

“You think they’re gunna do that stupid buddy system?” Virgil asked nervously. By the time they got to school the busses were already here and they were on their way to Oscorp. The teachers had told them they’d have an assignment due by the end of the trip since this was an educational experience at a world-famous research center. Whispers when around that they would be assigned partners instead of choosing.

“From what I heard yes,” Logan said “but I doubt the teachers will have enough effort to sort through everyone and assign them a partner. So, we should be fine.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Virgil challenged.

Logan squinted at him, an eyebrow raised in annoyance, “I’m never wrong.”

“Mmh, but what if you are this time?” Virgil pushed “Are you prepared for that? Are you prepared to lose your ‘I was wrong-ginity’?”

“That’s not even a thing!” Logan groaned, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

“It could be,” Virgil went on “and it could be worse! Like we could be put with kids that make us do all the work or even worse, we could be put with Dolion!”

“Highly unlikely,” Logan huffed “the teachers know how he is and will probably get paired with one of the chaperons.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Virgil asked once more.

Logan rolled his eyes, “If I’m wrong then I’ll eat my own neck tie.”

—

“I hope we get paired together.” Patton said wistfully as he stared out the bus window.

“And if not, I hope it’s at least someone I can talk to,” Roman said “like Remy, he always has the latest gossip.”

“I just hope that my partner will help me with the work.” Patton added, shifting his position to look at the sea of students behind him and his best friend. Roman turned around with him, arms resting on the back of the bus seat as they observed the chattering mess of hormonal teenagers.

“I mean, most of them aren’t bad,” Patton admitted “but some…”

“Dolion.” Roman said simply.

Patton frowned guiltily, “I mean, he’d probably wouldn’t be so bad if he had a friend to talk to.”

Roman rolled his eyes, “You’re much too nice for your own good, Pat. And if I’m being honest, I’d rather take emo nightmare then Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Lies.”

“Oh, come on, Virgil isn’t that bad,” Patton countered “he does his work and is always very patient when I ask for help in math class. He’s just a little shy.”

“Mmh, I’m sensing a pattern here.” Roman smirked.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked, confused.

“It’s just, you have a very specific type,” Roman went on, smirk widening “Virgil isn’t ‘so bad’ because he helps you with math and Logan is ‘fascinating’ and ‘really cool’ because he helps you with chemistry.”

Patton flushed a deep scarlet, “He’s my lab partner, there’s nothing else to it.”

“Well, you sure do know an awful lot about him for him just being your lab partner,” Roman said haughtily “like how he’s captain of the debate team and chess champion and a history buff and how he likes to check out astronomy books from the library…”

“Shh, shut up, shut up, shut up!” Patton squeaked, shoving Roman away from him. His friend merely laughed, teasing Patton the whole way about how red he was getting.

—

Once they got to Oscorp the teachers and tour guides began instructing them about safety precautions of the building as well as the assignment they were required to do. There was and answer sheet due by the end of the field trip and an essay due by Monday about all they’ve learned from their visit. It was all stupidly easy and tedious stuff really. Then the teachers separated them into partners to which Virgil, although dreading the results, was pretty smug about being right.

“Would you like some salt to go along with your tie, sir?” Virgil snickered.

Logan’s eye twitched before elbowing his friend in the rib, “Shut it.”

“No, I’m serious,” Virgil giggled, not at all serious “if I’m gunna be suffering here in a few minutes then I wanna see you eat this tie. So, are you gunna do it raw or fried?”

“You’re insufferable.” Logan grumbled.

“Yes, and I’m also your only friend,” Virgil smiled with false sympathy “which means we’re both fucked for life.”

Logan rubbed his eyes tiredly as he silently listened for his name to be called alongside his partner. If his partner was bad enough, he could always convince the teacher he if he could do the project by himself that way maybe he could tag alongside Virgil incase he was having a hard time with his partner. Just because Virgil could be a little shit sometimes doesn’t mean Logan would just upright ditch him, he knew how his best friend was in unfamiliar social situations.

“Patton Foster and Logan Quinn.”

Virgil snorted while Logan blushed pink before turning to glare at him, “Not a word.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Virgil snickered.

“You were thinking it.” Logan hissed.

They bickered for a while, Virgil teasing Logan about being paired with his ‘aesthetically appealing’ chemistry partner while Logan threatened to not let him copy off his homework for a month. Needless to say, they were so caught up in their bickering that they almost missed Virgil’s and his partner’s name being called up.

“Roman Marigold and Virgil Storm.”

This time Logan was the one to snort while Virgil groaned and flipped off his best friend, “Not a word.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Logan replied innocently.

“You were thinking it!” Virgil hissed before ruffling his hair anxiously “I mean, I’m glad it’s not Dolion but why the fuck did it have to be  _him_?”

—

“Why the fuck did it have to be  _him_?” Roman groaned into his friend’s shoulder who patted his head.

Patton rolled his eyes as he righted Roman up right, “He’s not that bad. Besides, since Logan and him are friends maybe we can all group together?”

“Patton, as much as I wanna double date with you this wasn’t the scenario I was talking about.” Roman half joked. Patton swatted his shoulder, a dark blush returning to his cheeks, “Not like that you meanie! I was saying that maybe we could work on the assignment together since we’re all sort of friends.”

“Your friends not mine,” Roman corrected “Logan is tolerable on a good day but Virgil…ugh, I’m pretty sure he hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you.” Patton assured, though he didn’t sound very certain. But there was no time to debate the notion any further because their partners were walking right towards them. Patton quickly readjusted his bow clip causing Roman to roll he eye affectionately at his friend before straightening up when Logan and Virgil drew near.

“Greetings Patton, Roman,” Logan nodded “it would seem that we’ve been assigned together. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble with you two, I suggest we all group together so as to get the work done faster. Though if it is a problem with either of you please say so now.”

“Hey Logan, Virgil,” Patton smiled sweetly “no, it’s no problem, in fact me and Roman were discussing asking you two the same thing. Since you two are friends and all we thought you’d guys want to stick together, I know me and Roman do.”

“Thanks man.” Virgil said, a look of relief visible on his face, he waved around two packets “we picked up the packets, wanna get started?”

“Please,” Roman sighed “the faster we get this done the faster we can get out of this nerd place.”

Virgil frowned, “You know they do important chemical engineering research, here right? Break throughs in medical machinery and bio engineering, they’re trying to make their own artificial stem cells using organic tissues in plants.”

Roman yawned dramatically, “Boring, useful but still boring. Now if this were Stark Industries that be a show.”

“Seriously,” Virgil scoffed “we’re surrounded by life changing medical and biological research and you think it’s boring?!”

“Excuse me if some of us aren’t ultra-nerds!” Roman huffed.

“You know you don’t have to be a nerd to appreciate scientific discovery,” Virgil said through grit teeth “though maybe in your case you do since you’re a clueless moron most of the time.”

“Better clueless then a fashion disaster!” Roman quipped and so it went on and on between them.

Patton smiled apologetically and Logan awkwardly returned the gesture as he silently cursed both Virgil and Roman for being so hotheaded. Well, mainly Roman was the hotheaded one but something about him brought out this sort of fire in Virgil that just wasn’t there with anyone else. He’d be sure to tease Virgil about it later as payback.

—

Aside from Virgil and Roman’s non-stop bickering the group was doing just fine, Logan took great notes for the research paper, Virgil and Patton filled out the work sheet and Roman raised his hand to ask questions when the rest of them were too embarrassed to do so themselves. Oddly enough they made a very efficient team. Then they got to the spider exhibit.

“There are more then 32,000 species of spider in the world,” the tour guide said as they led the students around and open lab with hundreds upon hundreds of environmental tanks filled with spiders “They are in the order Aranae, which is divided into three sub-orders: Mesothelea, Orthognatha, and Labidognatha. All spiders are carnivorous, ravenous eaters who feed on massive quantities of protein, in liquid form, usually the juices of their prey. Arachnids form each of the three groups possess varying strengths which help them in their constant search for food.”

Patton started to quietly freak out, “There are so many of them.”

“I know,” Virgil said excitedly “isn’t it awesome.”

Roman shook his head, “Of course  _you’d_  be into spiders.”

“Well, I’m not!” Patton whispered/squealed, curling inward “I’m  _super_ not into them and I feel creepy crawly all over!”

“No need to worry Patton,” Logan assured “all specimens are safely secured in glass environments.”

“And if need be, I’ll stomp on any that so happen to escape.” Roman promised much to Virgil’s discontent “You know spiders are a major help in keeping the ecological balance of our world? You can’t just kill every spider you see, it’s bad for the environment.”

“Cool it Jack Smellington,” Roman hissed softly out of ear shot from Patton “I’m just saying that so he can feel better. Knowing this place one spider is probably worth more than my entire life.”

“For example,” the tour guide went on, stopping at one of the environments “the jumping spider, family Salticidae, genus Salticus, can leap up to forty times it’s body length, thanks to a proportionate muscle strength vastly greater than that of a human being.”

“Spiders aren’t that scary,” Virgil said gentle “I have a tarantula at home and he’s basically a cat with eight legs and eyes.”

“You have a pet spider?” Patton squeaked, a few shades paler.

Roman glared at the purple clade teen disapprovingly, “Not helping.”

“Yeah, his name is JD,” Virgil went on, without waver “he’s a little bit bigger then my hand but when I first got him, he was the size of my thumb nail.”

“Tarantulas are actually one of the gentler species of spiders,” Logan added helpfully “if you are bitten by one, though it is exceptionally rare, their venom is weaker than that of a typical bee.”

“The funnel web spider,” The tour guide continued “family Hexathelidae genus Atrax, one of the deadliest spiders in the world, spins an intricate, funnel-shaped web whose strands have a tensile strength proportionately equal to the type of high-tension wire used to bridge buildings.”

“Wait you named your spider JD? Like JD from Heathers?” Roman asked in disbelief.

Virgil rolled his eyes, “Yeah what of it?”

“Movie or musical?” The red clad teen asked curiously.

“Does it matter, they’re the same either way,” Virgil huffed, he still answered the question “but if you must know: the musical. Which I can only guess is much more up your alley.”

“Actually,” Roman smirked “I prefer the movie. Though that doesn’t me I don’t already know all the songs by heart.”

“The crab spider, family Thomisidae genus Misumena, spins no web to catch its prey, but hunts instead, using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction velocities so fast some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition, an early awareness of danger, a ‘spider sense’.”

Patton gulped worriedly as he unconsciously grabbed onto the sleeve of Logan’s sweater. Logan didn’t seem to take any notice in this action but if he had pulled his note pad a bit closer to hide his red face behind well nobody needed to know that.

“That’s…surprising,” Virgil said honestly “not the you memorizing all the songs from the musical, the liking the movie better than the musical part.”

“Same for you,” Roman quipped “I thought for sure you’d enjoy the darker tone that the movie had.”

“I mean, yeah, but the musical has some pretty dark moments too.” Virgil argued.

Roman shrugged, for once on fired up enough argue, “I’m not disagreeing with you, just surprised is all. It wasn’t what I expected of you.”

Virgil wasn’t sure why but the comment caused him to blush a little, “Yeah, well, there’s a lot to me you don’t know.”

“Indeed.” Roman smirked, and for the life of him he didn’t know why.

The tour guide finally led them to the center of room where a large glass cylinder with separate environmental enclosures that each held a single multi colored spider. There were various screens surrounding the display with information and DNA scans about the spiders. The tour guide seemed most excited about this part.

“Over five painstaking years, Columbia’s genetic research facility has fully mapped the genetic codes of each of these spiders,” The tour guide grinned, chest puffing with pride “armed with these DNA blueprints, we have now begun with what was once thought impossible, inter-species genetic transmutation.”

Patton frowned worriedly, pulling closer to Logan, “Do you really think it’s okay to be messing with nature like that?”

Logan cleared his throat, “Well, one must be willing to take risk to move the world forward. Though I must admit there are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed, even in the name of science. Though since their just spiders trapped here, so long as they don’t get released into the world and reproduce, we should be fine.”

Patton breathed out gently though he still didn’t let go of Logan’s sleeve and though Logan found that he didn’t mind.

“This here is the Recombination Lab, where we use synthesized transfer-RNA to encode an entirely new genome, combining genetic information from all three spiders into these ten genetically-designed super-spiders, the first mankind has ever produced.” The tour guide said proudly.

Virgil turned starry eyed as he observed the spiders scuttling around their enclosures. Roman was mildly impressed by all the different shapes and colors the spiders took on, he’d only ever seen the ugly little brown kinds before. Patton was still freaking out because ew, but he too found the spiders uniquely pretty in a creepy sort of way. Logan took notes of both the spiders and what the tour guide was saying, fascinated by the information he was receiving.

“Just imagine,” The tour guide said dreamily “if one day we can isolate the strengths, powers and immunities in human beings and transfer that DNA code among ourselves. All known disease could be wiped out. Of course, we’re nowhere near ready to start experimenting with humans, nor do we know that we ever should. So, for the moment we’re concentrating on these fifteen spiders. Any question?”

Logan squinted at the enclosures recounting the specimens a few times before raising his hand, “Fourteen.”

The tour guide’s smile warped into a confused frown, “I beg your pardon?”

“I only counted fourteen spiders.” Logan repeated.

“No, there’s fifteen, aren’t there?” The tour guide worriedly scanned the enclosures.

“I don’t miscount.” Logan said deadpan.

“Well, you’ve been wrong before.” Virgil snickered, earning another elbow in his rib.

“Huh,” The tour guide seemed puzzled but didn’t seemed to panicked after a moment or two “I guess the researchers are working on that one. Anyways, this concludes the tour, anymore question feel free to ask me before you head on out.”

—

The group sat near a lounge area along with the rest of their class mates, finishing up the work packet as well as discussing how the essay was to be done. Well, Logan was doing most of the organizing, the other three were just following his instructions. It was easier that way, he was the smartest in the entire grade so listening to him would guarantee an A for sure.

“The essay doesn’t necessarily need to be a summary of what happened but what we learned from the experience,” Logan said as a matter-o-factly “since Virgil is a bit more researched on spiders and Roman is less squirmy you two should probably write about the spider exhibit. Me and Patton will do the medical research and advances done through out the years the company has been active.”

Roman shrugged, “Sounds good to me. If I’m being honest, I have no idea what that tour guide said most of the time. Though the spider facts were pretty neat…I think.”

Virgil chuckled as he sifted through Logan’s notes for that section of the institution, “Don’t worry, I’ll translate the notes for you. Being friends with Logan has it’s perks sometimes.”

Logan huffed unimpressed and Virgil winked in response, “Love ya, Lo.”

“Just so long as I don’t have to see another spider, I’m fine with whatever we do.” Patton sighed. Then, out of nowhere, there was a giant spider that plopped itself down on the table and Patton screamed as he tried to move back only to fall out of his chair. The group hurried to help their friend up and heard laughter from behind them.

Dolion Truman loomed over them with a devious smile across his face, “Honestly Patton, it’s just a toy.”

The rest of the students had begun to laugh as Patton curled into himself, face flushed red and tears pricking at his eyes. Just as Roman was going to stand up and give Dolion a piece of his mind Logan beat him to it. A blank slate for a face but an angry fire burning in his eyes.

“That was quite tasteless of you, Dolion,” Logan stated, monotone “it’s these types of pranks I would expect out of an elementary schooler and yet here you are, a sophomore in high school. How pathetic.”

Dolion huffed in response, “Lighten up Dexter, it was just a stupid prank.”

“Yes, you taking advantage of Patton’s severe arachnophobia for your own pleasure is totally hilarious.” Logan said deadpan.

Suddenly, students stopped laughing, guilt rising and murmurs of apologies being whispered amongst the crowed. Dolion sneered, hating having lost his audience, “What crawled up your ass and died, Mr. No Fun?”

“The disappointment of how lackluster your pranks and comebacks are starting to get.” Logan quipped and quickly the students turned head and started laughing at Dolion.

“The fuck you say to me towel head!” Dolion growled, grabbing Logan by the front of his shirt and pulling forward. Roman, Virgil, and Patton were quick to come to Logan’s defense trying to get in between the two teens. Though they weren’t sure who they were trying to protect because after that comment Logan looked about ready to commit murder.

“What’s going on here?!” Mr. Larry came rushing into the lounge area where he saw the five boys arguing. He and another teacher made quick work to separate them before demanding to know what happened.

“Dolion was being a jerk!” Roman accused.

“He was picking on Patton and Logan was trying to defend him!” Virgil added.

“It was just a stupid prank!” Dolion defended “They’re just being dramatic!”

“Falsehood!” Logan screeched.

“We’re really sorry.” Patton apologized.

“Enough!” Mr. Larry boomed “Either way, that is no excuse to be acting so inappropriately in such a pristine institution we were luck enough to get invited to! Detention after school, every one of you!”

“What?” Logan cried, panic overcoming his face.

“That isn’t fair!” Roman protested.

“I don’t want to hear it!” Mr. Larry bellowed.

Nobody noticed the little spider on the ceiling, blending itself and its web into the background. Nobody saw it scurry about, startled by the commotion below as it slunk down towards the chaotic mass of teenagers. Nobody saw it crawl inside Roman’s back pack, tucked between the notes he needed for his report.

—

Detention was held in the cafeteria, it’s halls empty and it’s lunch lines close, all very strange and creepily quiet. Dolion made the smart decision to sit in the back-left side of the lunch room while Roman, Patton, Virgil, and Logan took the front-right side. The teacher that was supposed to me monitoring them hadn’t gotten there yet it was the perfect time for Logan to start panicking.

“What am I gunna tell my parents?” Logan fretted nervously with his neck tie.

“That Dolion was being an ass and you stood up for your friend even when he called you a racial slur.” Virgil stated simply.

“That still doesn’t excuse the actions I was  _going_  to do.” Logan groaned, burying his head into the crook of his elbow on the table.

Roman rubbed his face with his hands, “I’m with Specs here, my mother is going to kill me! Especially now that I  _really_  won’t be able to pick up the twins on time!”

“Aw, geez, I’m sorry guys,” Patton murmured “my silly little fear got us into a lot of trouble.”

“It’s not your fault Patton,” Logan said quickly lifting his head up “what Dolion was childish and cruel. And though I’d rather not be here I wouldn’t just stand idly and let him make fun of you.”

Patton blushed, smiling warmly, “Thank you Logan, you’re really sweet.”

Logan’s cheeks mirrored that of Patton’s pink hues as he coughed into his sleeve, “Yes, well, you always go out of your way to treat everyone with respect and kindness, the least he could to is return the gesture.”

Finally, Mr. Larry came waltzing into through the double doors, paper work and coffee in hand. He looked tired, “Your parents have all been informed of your detention.”

Logan and Roman audibly groaned as they slumped down in their seats.

Mr. Larry began setting his things down at a small table at the front of the cafeteria, “You all may either do homework, read, or nothing at all. There will be no sleeping, talking, music (even with headphones), using your phones, or passing notes. We end in an hour, I will dismiss you, do not get up before then or you  _will_  get another detention. Begin.”

The quartet sighed but quickly got to work on their homework, pulling out books, notes, scripts and whatever else they needed. Roman decided to get a head start on his half of the essay before going over his script since he wouldn’t be able to go to practice today. He absentmindedly flipped through his notes not noticing the little spider that began to crawl up his sleeve. So focused was Roman at the task at hand that by the time he felt something crawling behind his neck the little spider had already sank it’s teeth into him. A shock like lightning ran through Roman’s spine before a pulsing pain settled into him.

“Ow!” Roman yelped, viciously brushing the back of his neck causing the little spider to fly across the room onto the next table.

“Shh!” Mr. Larry hissed.

Roman shrank down, apologizing softly as he turned to meet Patton’s concerned gaze. Roman waved him off mouthing ‘bug bit, probably’ before returning to his work. Though the others didn’t miss the way he continued to rub at his sore neck. So focused on the wrong thing were they that they again didn’t notice the little spider crawling across the table and sneaking into Patton’s jack, which lay on the chair next to him.

—

Detention was dragged out and boring but it’s to be expected. Dolion was the first one out the door, which was fine by them, while they stayed to chat and pack up their things. Mr. Larry approached them solemnly and the chatting ceased immediately.

“After talking to a few more witnesses it can be agreed on that Dolion did indeed start the fight,” He said but held up his head for silence before anyone could speak “however, please note in the future that violence is never the answer and that if you’re being bullied by another student tell an administrator. That being said, this will not be going on your permanent record.”

There was an audible sigh of relief from Logan, “Thank you sir.”

“No problem,” Mr. Larry said “you boys are good kids and it’s good to stick up for your friends but I hope you know that there are more peaceful resolutions.”

“Yes sir.” The boys nodded and with that Mr. Larry made his way out of the cafeteria. The group sighed tiredly and began putting on their coats to protect them from the frigid cold outside.

“Thanks again for standing up for me,” Patton said once at the school entrance “I should really learn to fight my own battles so I won’t cause any more trouble.”

“Ay, it ain’t your fault Dolion’s a dick,” Virgil shrugged “I would have kicked his ass too if I weren’t so scrawny.”

“Still, I really appreciate it,” Patton smiled, it was warm and sweet and caused a flurry at the pit of Logan’s stomach “maybe I can make you some ‘thank you’ cookies? What flavor would you like?”

“Um, er, I’m not-” Logan was caught of guard with the question, too enraptured in everything that is Patton, thankfully Virgil was there to save him.

“Anything he can spread his Crofters jam on he’s all over it,” Virgil smirked “I on the other hand, am a normal human being and like peanut butter cookies.”

“Scones and peanut butter cookies it is,” Patton giggled, waving as both pairs went their separate ways “see you tomorrow.”

Again, nobody noticed, not even the host in which the little spider resided in as it crawled down his sleeve reaching the wrist and sinking it’s little teeth onto the left side. Another icy shock of electricity zoomed throughout Patton’s body and as pain filled his sense, he jerked his hand away mid wave.

“Ow!” Patton cried, inspecting the lump on his wrist “I thought mosquitos hated the cold?”

“Could be a horse fly?” Logan suggested as they all crowded around Patton to see the lump.

And again, nobody saw the little spider that had been flung off then gently float to the ground. Nobody saw it scuttle around, searching for warmth before crawling up Virgil’s black convers. The friends said their final farewells before parting for home.

—

Vigil was exhausted and itchy for some reason when he got home, thankfully his parents understood why he had gotten detention and didn’t give him too much crap about it. Though they did ask if he was being picked on at school and if they needed to go talk to the principal. He told them it was nothing he couldn’t handle and didn’t want to make such a big deal about it, successfully avoiding the whole conversation.

Once in his room Virgil threw his back pack onto his messy desk before heading over to JD’s tank near the book shelf. The fuzzy brown tarantula scuttled around excitedly as Virgil reached a hand inside and aloud him to crawl on.

“Hey big guy, you miss me?” Virgil smiled as JD buzzed in response, crawling up his arm to rest on his shoulder. Virgil then head towards his bed for an impromptu nap before dinner and maybe watch a few conspiracy videos. The itching feeling still hasn’t gone away, well, it was less itching and more like something was crawling on his back.

Virgil carefully sat on his bed, placing JD on his pillow before taking off his hoodie and shaking it out. Nothing, and the itching was still there. He threw his hoodie on a nearby chair before shaking out his shirt to find that a little multi colored spider had popped out. It scuttled around the bed nervously and JD hissed at it.

“Hey, be nice,” Virgil scolded gently as he carefully picked up the little spider “hey little guy, you must of had some ride here, huh?”

The spider crawled around his hand wearily and for some reason it looked sort of familiar to Virgil but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. As a matter a fact he had no idea what the hell kind of spider it was. It was black with spots of color at it’s joints and pincers and strips going down it’s abdomen. Just as he was gunna grab his phone to search up what it was the little spider bit him. Now Virgil had been bitten by spiders before and the small ones weren’t usually that bad and maybe that should have been a clear warning sign that this wasn’t a normal spider. But as the icy shock throughout his body settled and the painful welt on his palm pulsed Virgil was more annoyed then panicked.

“Hey now, that’s not nice,” Virgil scolded the little spider as if it were a naughty child “I’m here inviting you into my home and you bit me? Well, if you’re gunna be that way I might as well send you outside, how bout that?”

Virgil carefully walked towards his fire escape window, opened it and foolishly let the little spider roam free. Once he made sure the little guy was far enough, he closed the window and made his way back to bed. Nobody saw it crawl down the fire escape, seeming to retrace the exact steps Virgil took that morning to get to Logan’s room. Nobody notices the window to said room open slightly allowing the little spider to crawl in. Not even said boy who lived there.

—

Logan’s parents were furious, though surprisingly not at him. When Mr. Larry had called his mother on the phone and told him what happened and why Logan was getting detention, well, she didn’t take it too well. Logan had to get his fiery temper and strong moral compass from somewhere and boy did his mother let Mr. Larry have it. Then when it was mentioned that he was called a racial slur by the bully that’s when his father had to get involved. Had he not been there to calm his mother down she’d probably had marched down to the school herself and caused a scene, demanding to speak with the boy’s parents.

It was no wonder that Mr. Larry looked so drained after the parent phone calls, Logan’s mother could be a handful to deal with. But Mr. Larry assured that Dolion would be dealt with and would be sentence to another detention this weekend. This seemed to calm his mother just a bit but she still issued in a warning that if something like this ever happened again, she wanted to meet with the boy and his parents personally. Thankfully, Mr. Larry understood and said he’d keep an eye out for Logan and his friends.

“Are you sure you weren’t hurt?” Mrs. Quinn fretted, checking her son’s face for the sixth time since he entered the apartment.

“Yes, Ummi I’m fine,” Logan groaned, gently pushing his mother’s hands away “I promise, nothing got physical, thank goodness.”

“Stop fretting my dear,” Mr. Quinn soothed, a gentle hand on his wife’s shoulder “the boy says he’s fine. You’re fine right babá?”

“Yes, I am,” Logan assured for the seventh time since he entered the apartment.

“See,” Mr. Quinn said “nothing to worry about, now let’s fix up dinner while Logan goes and rest. Hmm?”

Mrs. Quinn sighed, shoulders less tense “It’s just…this was never supposed to happen to him. Not here in America.”

“Ummi, this didn’t start because of who I am,” Logan soothed, holding tight to his mother’s hands “it happened because I stood up for a friend and I was too stubborn to back down. And even if it did start off that way Mr. Larry would have handled it accordingly since it’s a much more sensitive issue.”

“He’s right love,” Mr. Quinn jumped in “it would have been a problem if only Logan got detention but they all did. It won’t go on his record and that other boy will be punished accordingly.”

“I know this isn’t always the case in a lot of schools but thankfully Mr. Larry has dealt with Dolion enough to know he’s a delinquent,” Logan continued “and even if he wasn’t there, I can still handle myself pretty well.”

Mrs. Quinn sighed once more, bringing a hand up to cup her son’s face, “You shouldn’t be worrying about these things in the first place. You should be enjoying your youth and worrying about what college you want to go to.”

“Don’t worry, I still do that,” Logan chuckled, kissing his mother’s palm “it’s just that the world is still ignorant and I just have to deal with it for a while longer.”

This didn’t ease his mother’s worried face and Logan sighed tiredly, “I’ll be fine Ummi, I promise.”

She smiled finally and reached up to kiss her son’s forehead, “Why must you grow up so fast my love?”

“To keep you from worrying” Logan replied.

“Somehow I doubt that,” He chuckled sadly “now go wash up, dinner will be ready soon.”

Logan was finally able to make it to his room and he sighed a great sigh of relief as he leaned against the door tiredly. He hated seeing his parents worry over him, especially his mother. Just another reason to dislike Dolion, although he couldn’t be too mad. It’s because of him that Patton would be baking him cookies, well, him and Virgil but that was just schematics.

Logan was so busy fantasizing about Patton baking cookies for him that he didn’t notice the little spider crawling through his window, down his wall and across his floor. It scuttled around him for a while, wondering where he should enter from before just deciding to climb up his ankle. Logan was snapped out of his fantasies by an icy shock that coursed throughout his body then a pulsing pain on his right ankle.

“Ow!” Logan groaned, kneeling down to inspect the injury.

“Logan, are you okay?” Mrs. Quinn called from the kitchen.

Logan lifted his pants leg to find the little spider detaching itself from his ankle, “Yes Ummi, just a bug bit!”

The little spider began to scurry away but Logan grabbed a nearby beaker from his desk and trapped it. He squinted at it curiously, “Are you-”

“Logan, dinner’s ready!” Mr. Quinn called out.

“On my way!” Logan called back, grabbing piece of cardstock and sliding it under the beaker. He lifted it onto his desk and grabbed an empty specimen jar he uses to temporarily keep insects in and transferred the little spider in there before heading out to dinner.

**—TRIGGER WARNING SKIP IF NEEDED—**

Roman felt sick, which was odd because he had been feeling find just a few minutes ago. Actually, now that he thought about it, he had been more winded then usual after he and Patton went to go pick up Jenni and Marco. Patton had seemed a bit off as well but Roman couldn’t be too sure about that right now. Everything was too loud and too quiet all at once and his vision started to fuzz. Maybe he was coming down with something? Great, just what he needed, his mother spending money to send him to the doctor and missing another day of rehearsals.

“…Ro…man…burn…food…”

Hopefully, it was just a passing head cold that way he could just take some antibiotics and sleep it off.

“…Roman…”

God, now there was a loud ringing in his ear, he could barely think as it is, let alone remember what he was supposed to be doing.

“Romano, estas quemando la comida!” His mother exclaimed snapping Roman out of his daze enough to realize that the food he was stirring was indeed burning.

“Crap!” Roman shrieked, carefully lifting the burning pan of chicken over to the sink where he poured water over it. Thankfully he cooked the chicken butter and not oil so that was at least one disaster avoided.

Roman groaned pathetically, wanting to rub his stinging eyes but his joints hurt too much to put in the effort. Had just running a few steps really worn him out that quickly? Jesus, he really was sick and the smell of burning chicken wasn’t really settling well with his stomach. A cool hand touched his face and Roman was tempted to lean his whole body into it.

“Ay, mijo tienes fiebre,” That was his mother, he knew that for sure, her voice was always thick and sweet like honey. A pleasant sound to his ears instead of the loud ringing, “Ve y acuéstate.”

“No…Amá, soy…I’m…uh…” What even were words? He was getting all mixed up, what was going on? Everything was too much. The lights were too bright, the traffic outside was too loud, the tiles beneath his feet felt weird, and the bug bit on his neck hurt  _so_  bad! Roman just wanted everything to stop but he didn’t know how. He felt hot tears run down his face which just made everything so much worse because now his face was wet and his eyes kept stinging.

He was on his knees now (when had that happened?) clutching his ears as the voices around him grew louder and more frantic. Everything was too loud and he kept feeling someone trying to touch him and he didn’t want that because his clothes were already too much for him. His heart was beating so fast that he felt like it would explode, he couldn’t breathe, everything was too close, too loud, too bright, too much!

Darkness began closing around him and he felt the coolness of the tile floor press hard against his cheek. When had he fallen? Did he even fall or was he just laid down to keep from falling? He couldn’t say but everything was dulling down which was good. His muscles relaxed, his heart slowed down, he could breathe again, everything was okay now. So why could he still here worried yelling as he faded into the darkness?

—

Patton was not okay, his head hurt and his vision was all fuzzy. His parents questioning him about his detention was a blur and he had no idea when he got to his room or how long he’d just been leaning against the door but it was enough time for dinner to be ready.

Patton murmured out a half hearted “coming” as he peeled of his jacked and backpack, leaving it lying on the floor. He would have taken off his shoes as well but every time he bent down the world turned with him as well as his stomach. So, he tried toeing them off with his feet which was easier said then done in his current state. He just about got one off when there was a loud banging against the door he was leaning on. His ears rang loudly as more banging continued along with a familiar voice.

“Pat, dinner’s ready!”

Was that Alex or Georgie? Maybe his dad? Unless one of his cousins has come to visit and Patton didn’t notice.

More banging and yelling were followed when there wasn’t a reply, “Come on, Ma made your favorite!”

“C-coming.” Patton replied meekly, lifting himself from his crouching position on the floor. When had he gotten on the floor? Didn’t matter, Mamma was calling him and he knew how strict she was about family dinner. He wobbled out the door expecting for someone to be there waiting but found he was alone. Odd wasn’t Georgie calling knocking on his door earlier? Or was it Alex? Dad?

What was going on? The world was tilting again and Patton didn’t understand why, he was standing up straight and everything. One foot in front of the other, one, two, one, two. Where was he going again? The kitchen, right? If that was true then why how did he get to the living room?

“Patton!”

Ugh, more yelling but it sounded far away which Patton was grateful for though he could do without the bright lights. Did Papa change the lights when he was at school? Why’d he buy such bright ones? The stung Patton’s eyes, he couldn’t see clear as it was and the lights weren’t helping. And his bug bit was hurting again, like a lot, and it was itchy!

“Patton…ou okay?”

He was in the kitchen now, everyone was sitting at the table, they were all staring at him. Why? Did he keep them waiting that long? Geez, Patton was causing nothing but trouble today. First Dolion and now this, Patton really needed to get started in making those cookies. Ugh, but maybe later, the thought of cookie, or really food in general, made Patton want to hurl. Which should stand out as a big concern, especially since Patton can currently smell risotto, his favorite, and is gagging at the thought of it.

“Patton…okay…crying?”

What does that mean? Who was crying? Now Patton started to worry, did he really make someone cry? That’s just what he needed piled on top of all the mess he’s done. Gosh, he just couldn’t do anything right today. Logan and the others must think he’s so annoying, nothing but a weak little crybaby that can’t stand up for himself.

“…Patton…”

He felt someone reach for him and he flinched back, hands over his ears as he desperately tried to quiet that damn ringing. His face felt wet when his palms brushed against his cheeks and Patton soon realized that he was the one crying. Geez, he really was a crybaby.

It started to get dark and numb as the world began to tilt again but he didn’t reach the ground. Something solid braced him up, what was that? The couch? No, it held him tight and it was warm. Just as Patton was going to fade, he whispered out: “I’m sorry I’m late.”

—

Virgil had made a mistake, what it was he did not know yet but it had something to do with a spider. Or maybe it was mistake of eating way too much dinner? But he literally only ate a bite of pork and a few spoonfuls of rice, was he getting sick? No, no this was something else but Virgil couldn’t think of what.

How could he think though with all this noise! The scrape of utensils, the clanking of glass, chewing food, the neighbor snoring, the dog barking down the street…why the hell was everything so loud? The light was buzzing, his body felt feverish, his joints ached, his head was pounding.

The welt on his palm burned horribly and Virgil just wanted to rip it from his skin completely. He tried to put his head down on the table but forgot that his dinner was in the way and retched back. Ugh, that pork smelled rancid, why was it on his plate? He shoved his plate aside which had been a bad idea because there was a loud crash that sounded like glass breaking. What broke? Who did that? Why wouldn’t the ringing in his ears stop?

“Virgil!”

Why was his mom yelling at him? Did he do something wrong? Is it because he didn’t eat his dinner? He just couldn’t though, the pork had gone back and he just couldn’t stomach it. He couldn’t! God, he sounded like such an ungrateful child.

“Virgil?”

He tugged at the sides of his hair anxiously, desperately trying to block out the ringing and the bright lights and the snoring and the scraping and everything the world had to offer. Virgil just wanted everything to be still, just for a moment. He wasn’t asking for to much was he? Just one second of silence so he can gather his thoughts together.

“Piglet, are you okay?” Was that grandpa or grandma? No, grandpa was dead. It couldn’t be him, unless…was Virgil dying? Was this how dying felt like? A surge of panic burning cold raced through his veins and he felt his body began to shake.

“I-I…” Was as far as Virgil got before he lurched forward and upchucked his entire stomach on to the table and his lap. Virgil hated vomiting, it hurt his throat and burned his nostrils and his mouth always tasted like rotten milk afterwards. It was gross but there was nothing he could do about it.

Finally, it stopped and Virgil felt such relief that he could have cried. Or he was crying, he didn’t notice at first but after a minute he felt the burning liquid of tears running down his cheeks and the heaving rumbles in his chest as they ripped from his mouth. God, was he having an anxiety attack? Seriously? Right now, when he’s dying? Get a grip Virgil!

Steady hands held him upright when the world began to go dark which he was thankful for because he didn’t want to die drowning in a pool of vomit. He didn’t want to die at all but if Virgil got to see his Ye Ye it probably wouldn’t be so bad. Still, he didn’t want to leave Logan and his family behind. Who would feed JD when he’s gone?

—

Logan had a theory as to what was going on and it involved Roman and Patton as well. He just couldn’t remember what it was because he head was pounding and the welt on his ankle was itching the crap out of him! Stupid genetically enhanced spider and it’s stupid genetically enhanced venom! Fuck, the spider! It was still in his room and he needed to get it to see if somehow the hospital could make anti-venom.

But how could he even think of going to the hospital if he could barely form a cohesive thought in his brain, let alone speak it. What would he tell his parents? His mother was already worried enough as it is what the hell would this do to her? Speaking of his parents, where were they?

“Logan?”

He opened his eyes to a half empty plate in front of him before carefully lifting his head up. The world tilted and the blurry form of his parents came into view. When did he get to the kitchen? When had he sat down to eat? The venom must be working fast Logan was already having black outs, he needed to inform his parents that he needed to go to the hospital.

“Yes?” Was all he was able to squeak out because his brain to mouth function were going to shit today. That was great, he was dying and his couldn’t tell anyone, that was just great.

His father’s voice was muffled but loud and Logan desperately tried to make sense of it but his pounding head wouldn’t let him. The earth tilted every time he moved and his bones scraped against each other like he was going through a second growth spurt. Muffled voices of panic grew louder and louder and Logan wished they’d just shut up so he could think for a minute.

“…hurt?” Someone asked and Logan wanted to growl because no shit, yes everything hurt! His eyes, his skin, his ears, his bones, his stomach, everything, everything, everything! And he just wanted it all to stop hurting but he couldn’t say that because he was in too much pain to for a cohesive sentence.

He felt tears of frustration and pain slid down his face and Logan wanted to scream because they felt disgusting against his skin. Everything felt disgusting against his skin. From his shirt to his socks he just wanted to rip it all off and dive into an ice bath. His skin felt too tight and his heart beat was too fast and oh fuck, oh fuck, Logan didn’t want to die!

Logan felt hands on him and he leaped back, tripping over the chair he was still sitting on because he was an idiot. He felt the transition of kitchen tile to living room carpet underneath him and this time he did scream. Or at least he thought so, his throat felt raw and his nostrils burned with disgusting liquid. He was either screaming or vomiting and either way he hated it.

Thankfully, after a few more dry heaves the pain settled and darkness flooded his vision. It was like Logan was shutting down and the thought of it made him want to laugh. Virgil always said he was more robot then human sometimes, maybe they’d have to reboot him. As he slipped into the darkness he wondered, could robots still eat cookies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW Summary: Basically, the venom the spider injected takes affect and the boys get dizzy and pass out. They’ll wake up next chapter so don’t worry.
> 
> Music: Humility by Gorillaz
> 
> Spanish spoken:  
> “Mom, Marco doesn’t want to get ready!”  
> “Marco Emilio Flores-Marigold, you either get ready or I get ready for you!” (It doesn’t translate well in English; my mom would say this to me and my brothers and it’s basically her threatening to spank us if we don’t hurry)  
> “Mom please sit down you need to eat something.”  
> “Oh, but I still need to fix you kids is lunches.”  
> “I’ll fix them.”  
> “Have you eaten?”  
> “Look I’m eating” “You eat now”  
> “Roman, you’re burning the food!”  
> “Oh, my son you have a fever” “Go and lie down”


	2. *Gay Panic*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys wake up to find they've gone through some changes and not the puberty kind!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, yo, yo! Y’all ready for the second chapter of this bullshit? Cuz I sure as hell ain’t because that means I have to now start writing chapter three and I have no idea where this story is going! Aaaaaahhhhhhh! But I’m excited though! Again, thank you to sugarglider9603 and ask-spiderverse-virgil on Tumblr for their lovely AU! Without further ado please ENJOY!!!!

Swirls of colors and sounds filled their head like passing movie commentary you skip over. Small glimpses in and out of consciousness that made no sense by themselves but when put together you get some sort of visual on the puzzle you’re trying to put together.

“…food poising…?”

“…stress maybe…”

“…flu…should rest…”

“…24 hour bug…”

They all made sense when you thought about it but the reality of it was that they weren’t just “sick” they had been poisoned. Not on purpose, though who could say for sure. Who knows what kind of DNA splicing was done on that spider?

Wait, when did they get poisoned?

What spider?

The spider we let out the window?

No, it’s in our room!

We don’t like spiders! They’re icky!

They aren’t so bad.

 A soft chuckle. Of course, we’d think that. You’d think that? I’d think that?

Wait, what?

\---

Logan woke up with a start, heart pounding and lungs burning. He clutched onto something solid next to him so as to steady himself. He blinked rapidly, eyes adjusting to the dim light of the room in was in, his room? When did he get here? Logan carefully turned to take in his surroundings; he was in bed, dressed in pajamas, right hand having latched itself onto his head board. He glanced at the alarm clock near his desk it read 5am which would explain why everything was so dark.

Logan’s throat felt dry, like every time he swallowed it was like a cheese grater scraping against his vocal cords. He also fest _extremely_ hungry despite the events that had happened previously. Logan carefully got up to go get some water and maybe an early breakfast only to be pulled back into bed.

“What the…?” Logan looked around to see what had happened and found that his had was still on his head board. His brow frowned as he tried to pull it off but it continued to stick as if it had been glued on. He pulled again, a bit harder, but only managed bend over a section of the metal bed frame. Logan’s eyes widen in shock and awe as he pushed back against the bended area and effortlessly straightened it. Now Logan wasn’t weak by any means necessary but he never considered himself athletic material either, let alone able to bend thick metal bed frames!

A soft tap on the door, “Logan, love, are you awake?”

“Uh, yes Ummi,” He replied hoarsely before clearing his throat “what did you need?”

“What are you doing up so early?” She questioned “The doctor said you should be resting?”

When did he go to the doctor?

“When did I go to the doctor?” Logan asked lamely, seriously all these blanks in his memories were going to drive him insane.

“We didn’t, we had called Dr. Smith next door,” Mrs. Quinn explained “unfortunately the Storms had called him as well. It seems Virgil had gotten sick too, very similar to how you did last night.”

Her voice sounded distant, like the memory of it brought her immense pain and that hurt Logan more then he thought it would. Also, Virgil had gotten sick as well, has he also been bitten? He asked, “Is he okay? What happened?”

“He’s fine but I’m not quite sure what was going on with you two,” She sighed “you seemed to be in a lot of pain, both mentally and physically. It was…very unpleasant to say the least.”

That was an understatement.

“Dr. Smith said it was probably a seasonal bug going around as well as stress,” There was a beat of silence “Logan, have you been doing alright in your studies?”

“Yes Ummi,” Logan reassured “everything is fine.”

“And you haven’t been harassed by other students like that boy from yesterday?” She asked anxiously.

“No Ummi, I haven’t,” Logan said seriously “I’m alright, I promise.”

More silence filled the room, unsureness thick in the air because honestly Logan had no idea if he was really fine or not. There was definitely something different about him that’s for sure and it had to do with that spider. He saw it on his desk, siting in the jar he placed it in earlier as if it hadn’t caused all this trouble.

“Can I come in?” Mrs. Quinn’s voice snapped Logan out of his train of thought and in a brilliant moment of word association he said “N-no, I’m…no dressed.”

It was cleat that this wasn’t something Mrs. Quinn expected, “Why are you undressed?”

“I’m getting ready for school,” He replied quickly “this is my normal routine, is it not?”

“Yes, but I would hope you would stay home today,” She said “especially after yesterday’s events.”

“I feel better now,” Logan assured, which was true, he actually felt great just really, really hungry and thirsty.

“Well, you don’t have to be in school until 8am so maybe you should rest a little bit more,” She suggested “and if you’re still feeling up to it then maybe you can go to school.”

“Of course, Ummi.” He nodded, even though no one was there to see it.

“But if I find out that you’re even slightly ill, you’re staying home,” Mrs. Quinn said firmly “understood?”

“Understood.” Logan agreed, best not to argue least she come in her and find Logan in his sticky situation.

“Good,” She sighed “go back to sleep love, I’ll be by to check on you soon. Babá and me have to leave to work a little early today so I want you to make sure you’re completely fine to go to school, okay?”

“Yes Ummi,” Logan sighed and with one last get well his mother departed down the hall. Finally. Logan’s muscles relaxed, not realizing how tense he had been, and he felt his hand slip from the metal bars it was attached to.

Logan blinked in confusion, standing up carefully and walking to a nearby wall. He decided to experiment a little, placing his hand on the wall and tensing the muscles in his fingers, just a bit. Like he predicted it stuck solidly onto the wall, he relaxed and his hand slipped free. He did this a few times more, first with one hand, then with two then with his feet before deciding to see what would happen if he pulled himself up. Logan was able to lift himself a few inches off the floor with nothing but his hands and feet holding him in place somehow.

“Holy shit.” He whispered to himself.

Logan looked to the little spider scuttling around in it’s jar as it effortlessly crawled up and down the sides. He wondered…he detached one hand and lifted it further up, same with the other hand, right foot, left foot, and soon enough he was hanging upside down from his ceiling.

“Something is definitely not right.” Logan breathed out anxiously, wondering how the hell the others were taking to this.

\---

Something was definitely not right with Patton. First of all, he woke up tangled in his bed sheets which wasn’t unusual for the most part but it was much more difficult to get out of this morning since everything kept sticking to him. By the time he was able to detach himself from everything he was standing (hanging???) sideways on the besides his bed. Needless to say, he freaked out and spent half an hour trying to get unstuck only to drop back down on his bed and get tangled in his sheets again.

Defeated, Patton settled starfish style on his carpet floor, half the sheet clinging onto his leg as well as other thing such as papers and markers and socks sticking to other parts of his body. Patton really wanted to cry, he had no idea what was going on or what to do about it. But he knew crying wouldn’t do him any good so he took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

In for four…hold for seven…out for eight…

“I wonder why no one has come into my room yet?” Patton wondered aloud, especially with all the ruckus he was causing.

He lifted himself off the floor, not noticing the things he had stuck too start to slowly slip off, reaching over on his night stand for his phone. He clicked it on and found a few messages from his brother Georgie but aside from that he looked to the date and found that it was Wednesday. It explained a lot, Wednesdays were the busiest for his family with his parents’ bakery always filling up, Alex is having the morning shift at his part time job before heading to university, and Georgie opening up at the dinner he worked at. He quickly opened up his text messages.

 **Georgeous:** ma said shed get off work early if ur still sick

 **Georgeous:** theres soup & crackers at your desk if ur hungry

 **Georgeous:** also water

 **Georgeous:** ma also said u dont have to go to school today if u dont wanna

 **Georgeous:** doc said u should take it easy

Ever the doting older brother Georgie was, always looking out for Alex and Patton even if they could get on his nerves sometimes. He should bake him a cake as a “thank you for dealing with all my oopsies”. Patton sent him a reply along with a few questions.

 **Baby Shark:** thanks but i feel better now

 **Baby Shark:** when did i go to the doctor?

 **Georgeous:** dr. ortega from down the street was alredy coming by to check on romen

 **Georgeous:** turns out he was sick as well

 **Georgeous:** ma asked her to come over when she was done checking him out

 **Baby Shark:** is Ro ok?

 **Georgeous:** yeah doc said it was probably the flu going around an it just got to u 2 realy hard

 **Georgeous:** why didnt u tell us u were feeling sick?

Patton thought for a moment, how could he explain that he hadn’t been feeling sick at all up until yesterday afternoon after…after he got that bug bite. Then that weird dream he had just before he woke up stuck to the wall and tangled in his sheets. How was he supposed to explain that things kept sticking to him and that the world seemed much more sharp now?

 **Baby Shark:** i didnt notice it much

 **Baby Shark:** and when i did i just thought it would pass with a good nights sleep

 **Baby Shark:** i didnt want to bother anyone if it was nothing

Patton didn’t like lying to people but he just had no idea what was going on and he doubt anyone else did either. This would just cause them to freak out and then what? More doctors? Would the government get involve? Were they gunna make him a science experiment now that he’s a freak?

 **Georgeous:** still next time tell us even if its just a stomach ache

 **Baby Shark:** ok

 **Baby Shark:** i g2g and get ready for school

 **Georgeous:** r u sure?

 **Baby Shark:** yeah i feel a lot better now promise <3

 **Georgeous:** ok but if u feel sick just call me an i’ll pick u up ok?

 **Baby Shark** : ok bye love u <3

 **Georgeous:** love u too

Patton sighed, flopping back on the floor. He felt sick again but not like before, this was a different kind of sick. A guilty pit in his stomach kind of sick that probably won’t go away any time soon. Oh well, he couldn’t change anything now, might as well move on with his day. First things first, he had some thank you cookies to make.

He lifted his phone to check the time, 7am, plenty of time to do a quick batch of peanut butter cookies and scones. He should hurry so he could go check on Roman afterwards, he did look a little down when they were walking home yesterday.

“I wonder…” Patton said aloud again as he stood up to get dress. He placed his phone back down on his night stand and noticed his glasses sitting beside his lamp. Patton blinked as he felt his face and found he indeed was not wearing his glasses and yet the world looked crystal clear as if he was.

“Oh geez…”

\---

Virgil was very thankful that it was Wednesday, everyone always goes to work early on Wednesday since it was the middle of the week and for some reason Manhattan decided to be a world of chaos. He was also thankful that he grandmother was a heavy sleeper because he had no idea how he was going to explain this!

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Virgil cursed as he desperately tried to unstick his feet and left hand from the ceiling. He had no idea how this happened or why it was happening he just knew that he wanted to get unstuck now!

Knock! Knock!

“Piglet, are you awake?” His grandmother called from behind the door.

“Uh, yeah,” Virgil squeaked “b-but, um, don’t come in I-I don’t have a shirt on!”

It was true, during his earlier struggle to get unstuck from his bed, which he at first thought was sleep paralysis, his hands got stuck to his shirt and tore it open when he was trying to unstick them.

“Well, I was just wondering if you wanted breakfast,” She said “I could make you a warm broth so as not to upset your stomach.”

“N-no thanks Mama,” Virgil said quickly, finally able to get his hand free “I’ll just have something at Logan’s house before I go to school.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” His grandmother questioned sternly “You were very sick yesterday and the doctor said to take it easy.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure,” He fibbed as he wondered when he had gone to the doctor.

“If you’re sure,” She said skeptically “just make sure you two don’t eat anything too heavy. I heard Logan got sick last night as well, the doctor said it was a passing seasonal bug.”

“Okay, sure thing,” Virgil gulped “I’m gunna get ready now, don’t worry about me.”

“We will always worry about you, Piglet,” His grandmother said gently “it’s what families do.”

And with that she was gone and Virgil was beyond relieved. Then he fell off the ceiling. He was thankful for the dirty clothes pile in the middle of his room that softened his fall but he also cursed it because that means more stuff got stuck to him.

He groaned, “Come on, come on! Unstick, unstick!”

He hopped around the room like a lunatic and was only able to shake off a few articles of clothes before he tripped. The fall wasn’t as soft this time but at least the floor was carpeted at least so he didn’t knock his head that badly. He had landed near his dresser drawer where JD’s tank rested on, the tarantula in question was practically pressed up against the glass and hissing worriedly at his owner’s misfortune.

“Hey buddy,” Virgil groaned as he pulled himself up to be eye level with the tank and all who inhabit it “I’m okay, don’t worry. Though I’ll be honest, I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Hurt! Master hurt!” JD chittered as he paced anxiously in his tank.

“I’m good really, you hungry?” Virgil asked before he paused to process what just happened. Did…did his tarantula just talk to him? No, no, it couldn’t be, he just hit his head too hard. Right?

“Food!” JD cheered excitingly as he scurried around his food bowl patiently waiting for something to drop.

Virgil’s eyes widen in shock, completely frozen in place as he stared at his pet tarantula who was excitingly chanting “Food, food, food!”. He noticed that there were little waves of colors radiated off JD like a sort of technicolor halo. It was all getting to be a bit too much.

JD scuttled back to the front of the tank, a confused look in his eyes, “No food?”

Virgil yelped, accidently launching himself backwards towards his desk where he got stuck again. God damn it! Papers flew around were everywhere and Virgil couldn’t see, he stubbled around not knowing where he was going as he tried to desperately to get things to stop sticking to him.

“Stop sticking god damn it!” He growled as he finally got the last piece of paper off of his face. His relief was short lived because to his horror he was not in his bedroom anymore but on the standing perpendicular to the side of his building. “Keep sticking! Keep sticking!”

He was about a foot away from the fire escape near Logan’s window and Virgil contemplated weather or not he had enough courage to jump over or if his stupid sticky body would even allow that to happen. Still, he tried, carefully shifting one foot in front of the other until he had inched his way over the fire escape. Thankfully, it was only then that his stickiness decided to abandon him as he fell onto hard metal. Virgil groaned, it surprisingly didn’t hurt as bad as he thought it would but it still hurt pretty fucking bad.

He heard the window above him open up and his head tingled when he saw Logan poke his head out, looking around before finally spotting him below. The waves of color were back but this time they were brighter and loud like some sort of signal. Logan was a mesh of blue and cool grey and by the look he was giving him Virgil was just as colorful.

Logan seemed to think deeply for a moment, his mouth a straight line of concentration, “I can assume my theory was correct.”

“What theory?” Virgil groaned as he slowly sat up, rubbing his sore head. He’d be lucky if he didn’t get a concussion after all of this.

Ignoring his question, Logan grabbed Virgil’s arm before he could warn him and pulled, “Come inside.”

“Wait!” Virgil was pulled into the room quite effortlessly as if he weighed nothing to Logan. Which wasn’t all that hard to believe, Virgil had always been a thin guy plus he was a dancer so that wasn’t helping with anything. But not to say Logan was weak but seeing as the most physical activity this guy does is walk to and from school, he should have had at least a little trouble getting Virgil inside.

“You’re not gunna believe this but JD talked to me and I fell from side of the building because I got stuck!” Virgil blurted out in one breath.

“Yes, I know,” Logan said coolly “I need you to relax.”

“How the hell do you want me to relax?!” Virgil screeched “I just fell from the wall and I’m sticking to everything!” To emphasize his point, he shook his hand which was now stuck on too Logan’s arm.

“I know,” Logan repeated “it’s been happening to me too but you need to calm down if you want to get unstuck.”

“How do you know?” Virgil cried, thoroughly done with this whole day and it hadn’t even started.

“Because I’ve been testing myself since 5am ever since I woke up stuck to the head board of my bed frame then proceeded to fold it and unfold it like it was paper!” Logan shot back, seemingly frustrated as well “Now breath!”

Virgil finally shut up and listened, breathing in for four…hold for seven…out for eight…then again, a few more times until he was able to unstick himself from Logan’s arm. He leaned back against Logan’s desk, wrapping his arms around himself as he anxiously looked towards Logan for answers. “What’s going on?”

Logan looked tired, his hair was messy and he had bags under his eyes but he looked determined, “I have few theories, mainly surrounding the spider that bit us.”

“Spider?” Virgil said, it couldn’t possibly be the same one from yesterday could it?

“Yes,” Logan said, grabbing a jar from behind Virgil and thrusting it in his face. Inside was the same spider from yesterday scurrying around the now web filled jar. “It’s from the same spiders we saw at the lab at Oscorp. Most likely the one that escaped.”

Virgil tilted his head curiously, “I thought the tour guide said it was back in the lab?”

“Obviously not,” Logan said deadpan.

“Trapped! Free!” The spider hissed causing Vigil to jerk back, kicking his leg up at the jar as Logan fumbled to grab it again.

“It fucking talked!” Virgil shrieked.

“Yeah, no shit!” Logan snapped, placing the jar near one of the shelves furthest from the panicking teen “I thought we established that with your spider!”

“Why is it talking?” Virgil snapped back.

“It’s not,” Logan sighed, straightening himself out as he reached to adjust his glasses only to realize he wasn’t wearing them “our sense have been enhanced to see and hear things better which in turn means we can hear certain frequencies better. It has been theorized that insects have their own language but the frequency at which it’s at it too high for normal human ears to pick up. What we’re hearing is a weak and choppy frequency so we’re only able to make out a few words.”

“Ah-huh,” Virgil nodded, still slightly freaking out “so what does this have to do with, mmh, everything else!”

“Don’t you see?” Logan said “We’ve been enhanced with artificial spider DNA! The venom injected into us was supposed to kill us but it instead latched on to our genetic coding and mutated us!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Virgil rubbed his face anxiously “so, what your saying is we have spider-based superpowers like…like Rainbow Weaver?”

“Basically,” Logan shrugged “though all I’ve been able to find now is our abnormal adhesiveness, above average strength, slight sensitivity to radio waves, slightly larger range in frequency, faster reflexes, acute awareness and, as you’ve noticed, perfect eye vision.” He gestures towards his glassless face as evidence.

Virgil ran a trembling hand over the left side of his head, “This is crazy, this is impossible, this…this…” He tugged at his hair and realized “my hand is stuck.”

“Relax,” Logan soothed “you were able to get it unstuck before, you can do it again.”

“And if I can’t?” Virgil squeaked, panic beginning to rise once more.

Logan bit his lip nervously, “We’ll think of something.”

\---

There was a note on Roman’s dresser from his mother when he woke, he tried to read it but he was stuck to his sheets and as well as a few other things when he came tumbling out of bed. Notebooks, scrap papers filled with important theater notes, dirty clothes, make up, and any other thing his body made contact with. At first, he thought it was a prank done by the twins but it seemed a bit excessive and a little to advanced. Plus, how would they even do that? Getting Roman to stick to everything without using some sort of glue?

Roman was able to rip most of the things off of him and finally walk over to the dresser. He didn’t risk touching it though, much too scared he’ll get stuck again, so he merely peered down at the note filled with his mother’s careful handwriting.

**Descansa un poco, mi amor, el doctor dijo que tenías una enfermedad que había estado dando vueltas. Patton también lo tiene, pero he oído que ahora está bien, solo necesita descansar. No vayas a la escuela si no te apetece. Hay un caldo en el refrigerador para calentar si tienes hambre.**

**-Mamá**

Roman squinted at the not confused, when had he gone to the doctor? When did Patton get sick? What the hell was going on? Billions of questions swirled in his head causing Roman a painful headache or maybe it was because he was super hungry? Either way he needed to get out of his room. Roman marched to the door and yanked it open but found that he was now stuck to the door knob.

“Pinche manos pegajosas!” Roman cursed as he tried to yank he’s hand off the door knob only to pull it off with him. He sucked a painful breath through his teeth though it wasn’t because he was hurt, more it had to do with the landlord finding out and charging them for the damage later. Roman fixed it the best he could for now before carefully side stepping around the door into the hall. He breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned back against a wall contemplating what was going on with him and how he was going to pay back the broken door knob.

How had he even done that? Sure, Roman liked to brag that he was athletic and junk, which he was, but even he wasn’t **that** strong to tear a door knob off it’s wooden frame. Also, he was really jittery, like there was a constant buzz at the back of his head that made him super aware of everything around him. Was this how his mother felt with four kids running around the house?

His stomach rumbled, train of thought gone and replaced with the want of food. So, Roman moved to stand from the wall, well, he tried, he was stuck again. A loud groan left his lips as he made the mistake to use his hands to push himself off. No surprise they stuck to so he used his feet…you see where this is going? Long story short he did end up making it to the kitchen but for some reason he ended up stuck to the ceiling, dangling by only his left foot. Which is how Patton found him.

“Roman?” Patton entered into the apartment dressed and ready for school with two bags of cookies neatly wrapped in clear plastic. There were swirls of baby pinks and blues radiating around him like a sort of weird halo of light. It buzzed and sang with in a weird yet familiar tune that was just…all Patton. Patton must have been able to see it too because he had this sort of curious looked as he continued to stare at Roman for a long time. Then Roman remembered the situation he was in, “Help!”

“Oh dear.” Patton sighed, snapping out of his trance and placing his cookies on the coffee table near the living room before heading over to inspect the situation. He grabbed onto his friends dangling arms and looked him straight in the eyes, “Roman, I need you to calm down.”

“How do you expect me to be calm right now?” Roman shrieked “I’m hanging upside down by my foot! From the ceiling! What even is going on?!”

“I’m not sure,” Patton replied calmly “but all I know is as soon as I started to calm down things started unsticking. So, I assume it’s going to be the same for you.”

“W-what? You too?” Roman asked a bit less panicked, it was good to know he wasn’t alone in this strange situation.

“Yes,” Patton soothed “then when I started stress baking everything stopped sticking. I’m guessing if you’re too anxious or tense it just gets out of control. So, I need you to try and calm yourself, deep breaths, you can sing a little bit if it helps.”

Roman took a few deep breath, trying to qualm his shaking nerves before starting to hum a little tune, “ **Isn't it lovely, all alone?/ Heart made of glass, my mind of stone/ Tear me to pieces, skin and bone/ Hello, welcome home.** ”

Finally, he unstuck and flopped right into Patton’s arms who, surprisingly, was able to carry him without any trouble. After being carefully set back on his feet once more Roman began to freak out again, “What the fuck is happening?!”

“I’m not sure,” Patton said, anxiously rubbing his hands “I just woke up sticking to everything and the world seems like it’s moving in slow motion and I can see without my glasses and none of my cute clothes fit me anymore!” He pouted, gesturing down towards his favorite jeans that had flowers embroidered at the cuffs and up the sides which used to fit Patton perfectly but now land few inches above his ankles.

Roman gazed sympathetically at his friend, had been ready to assure him that he still looked very cute only to be cut off by his rumbling stomach. “Dear God I’m starving.”

“I know what you mean,” Patton replied as his own stomach rumbled “I ate the soup my mom made me plus all the left overs plus the first batch of cookies I made and I’m _still_ hungry!”

“I’ll be willing to share my soup and left over with you if you make me cookies later,” Roman bargained “I’d ask for those you brought over but I know those are special.”

Paton flushed red, quickly changing the conversation, “D-deal, we’ll eat then head off to school and…maybe find someone who can help us afterwards.”

“Like who?” Roman questioned “What other person has been going through the same shit we’ve been going through this morning?”

\---

Virgil’s stomach rumbled as he and Logan made their way down the school halls, “For the love of god! We practically cleaned out all the left overs and snacks from both of our apartments and I’m still starving!”

“I’m guessing high metabolism should be added to the list,” Logan said, stopping by a nearby vending machine “Or maybe it’s the fact that our bodies are still going through puberty and the spider DNA has enhanced that as well, or maybe it’s a mixture of both.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Virgil grumbled, carefully pulling down the sides of his beanie “by the way, you couldn’t of thought of anything better to get me unstuck then mutilating my hair?”

Logan rolled his eyes, bending down to retrieve the various treats he had purchased “We tried to get you to calm down for thirty minutes but you still remained tense. What were you gunna do? Stay stuck and let someone find out?”

“You could have at least done a better job!” Virgil snarked, taking the chips and candy bars handed to him.

“I’m not hairdresser,” Logan stated plainly, stuffing half a chocolate bar in his mouth “I did the best I could.”

“Well if this is your best, I don’t want to see your worst,” Virgil grumbled, stuffing a hand full of chips in his mouth “what are we even gunna do after this? Can we do anything? Who can we even tell?”

“Calm,” Logan soothed, a careful hand placed on his friend shoulder “we’ll figure something out. Right now we need to focus on finding Patton and Roman, they must be having just as difficult a time adjusting to their new found abilities.”

“Are you sure they were bitten?” Virgil asked skeptically “What are the odds of the same spider biting all four of us?”

“Patton’s bug bite from yesterday looked similar to ours and I can only assume since Roman was in close proximity to us, he was bitten as well,” Logan explain, readjusting his glasses which now had no lenses “my theory is that he got bitten during detention yesterday, then Patton outside, then you when you arrived home and found the spider, and finally me after I finished talking to my parents. Tell me, when did you start feeling the effects of the venom after you were bitten?”

Virgil thought a moment, “I took a nap and scrolled through Tumblr, my mom called me out for dinner and I was talking to my grandma and then…nothing. It’s all fuzzy after that.”

“Interesting,” Logan hummed “I remember being called out too after I caught the spider, then I sat down and…it’s all a blur from there. From what my parents told me I assume I was somewhat coherent enough to eat and talk, although it was somewhat slurred, then I began to malfunction.”

Virgil snorted, “You’re talking as if you were a computer.”

“It seems the spider is learning with each victim and increasing it’s dosage,” Logan continued, ignoring Virgil’s comment “which would explain why the effects happened faster for me then for you. And I can only assume the same can be said with Roman and Patton seeing as when they were bitten earlier on. But like I said, it is only a theory.”

“A game theory!” Virgil quoted with a laugh causing Logan to quirk and eyebrow “This isn’t a game Virgil.”

“Yeah, I know but I cope with sarcasm and memes,” Virgil grumbled, stuffing more chips in his mouth “sue me…”

Logan sighed, unwrapping another candy bar, “This is going to be a long day.”

\---

Down the hall on the opposite side of the school Patton and Roman were having their own conflict. Still hungry after downing all the left overs and munchies they bought at the corner store before coming to school they were currently emptying out the vending machine. They were discussing their current predicament while spitting their purchase.

“How we were able to get here in time I will never know,” Roman grumbled, struggling to stuff his food in his backpack “are you still sticking to thing?”

“Not as much as this morning,” Patton said, finally able to zip his bag before sling it over his shoulder “you?”

“A little, I guess, I don’t know,” Roman sighed, opening a bag of Skittles “it’s just I feel like everybody is staring at us.”

“But there barely anybody in the halls,” Patton said “but I know what you mean. It’s like you can feel them from the inside of the class.”

“Yes!” Roman exclaimed softly “It’s fucking weird!”

The first period warning bell rings and the two friends make the journey down the hall to their class as did the rest of the remaining students in the hall. This whole situation was like some weird fever dream they couldn’t wake from. Their skin buzzed, their ears rang, their senses were just all over the place, it was all very overwhelming. Roman usually reveled in being under the spotlight but at the moment it seemed like there were too many eyes watching him and all he really wanted was to curl up into the nearest dark corner and sleep. He hadn’t had the time or ability to get dressed properly or do his make up and he was still in shock from everything that happened this morning. Patton, the usually cheery social butterfly, didn’t feel so cheery or social at all today. None of his clothes fit him right, everything was either too slow or too fast, and he had to take out the lenses of his glasses which really upset him because they were cute round rose gold glasses with rose tinted lenses and now, they’re ruined!

So busy moping were the two friends that if it weren’t for the tingly sensation at the back of their head, they would have missed Virgil and Logan passing them by. Granted they were distracted by their own conversation as well and were basically snapped into attention by the weird and colorful tingly sensation pulling them towards Patton and Roman. They were all a melting pot of technicolor waves, blending and buzzing with each other in some weird kind of dance. Virgil was a foggy storm of blacks and purples and white lighting which in theory should be dark and hard to see but was for some reason bright and beautiful. Roman was a swirl of bright white with streaks of red and gold dramatically singing a beautiful melody. Logan was a cool blend of dark blues and greys, a normally dull combination but it structured itself with such formality and care it was an exquisite display of stars. Patton was a pop of cotton candy pinks and soft blues bursting with life and richness, they bloomed like flowers in the spring time.

“You’re like me!” They said in unison.

It was then that they noticed they were still in the hall and even though there weren’t that many people around there were still people. Logan, with his quick thinking, ushered them all into the nearby boy’s bathroom and corralled them into the large stall near the back. Everyone was freaking out.

“You’re all colorful!” Patton said in awe.

“What’s going on?” Roman hissed.

“Why the fuck would I know?!” Virgil snapped.

“Shut up!” Logan demanded and the room was silent “I have a few theories, first off-”

The sound of a toilet flushing caught their attention, finally realizing they weren’t as alone as they thought. They tensely waited for whoever was out there to finish washing up and exit. The sound of boots echoed throughout the bathroom as the faucet opened and close multiple times. The hand drier blazed to life and for a moment the four teens thought they’d finally be safe until a familiar slimy voice said: “I know you nerds are in here!”

“God fucking damn it!” Virgil mouthed furiously, Dolion messing with them again is the last thing they need right now.

“Don’t think I couldn’t here your whispering,” Dolion hissed “what, are you here to fuck me over again? I already have another detention because of you assholes!”

The bang of a nearby stall door was heard then another and another each getting closer and closer towards them. Dolion growled, “Come out, come out, where every you are! Fucking cowards!”

The group didn’t know what they were so nervous for, what would Dolion do? Take them all on? And even if he did, they would just tell Mr. Larry and he would get in trouble again. Maybe it was the fact that they were all kind of lowkey scarred of Dolion, dude was a big guy, or maybe, just maybe, it was because they had weird mutant spider powers that they didn’t know what to do with and wouldn’t know the outcome of what would happen if Dolion tried to fight them now. But just as Dolion was nearing the last stall door the tingly sensation in the back of their heads told them to jump and so they did without hesitation.

The last stall door was kicked open, Dolion entered with a sneer and saw that it was completely empty. He did a double take, looking around confused, so certain he had heard people come in, that he had heard _them_ come in. Shaking his head in irritation Dolion left the stall and marched out of the bathroom with a huff.

Meanwhile, clustered up on the ceiling, right above where Dolion had stood, were Patton, Roman, Virgil, and Logan who all let out a sigh of relief. “That was close.”

Then there was a loud creek and Virgil gulped, “Oh no.”

They all came crashing down along with the flimsy white ceiling tile that held them up their in the first place. They landed on the filthy bathroom floor with a _thwap_ while the ceiling tile crumbled in half.

Roman groaned, “This is the fucking worst.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Logan grumbled as he lifted himself from the floor “we shall further discuss the matter after school.”

“What do you mean after school?” Roman balked “I want to know what’s going on now!”

“Hey, genius, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t think a public restroom in a high school is the best place to discuss our…condition.” Virgil snapped.

“They’re right Roman,” Patton butted in before his friend could reply “who knows what will happen if someone were to find out. Especially, Dolion.”

“Ugh, fine,” Roman sighed, he couldn’t say no to Patton’s puppy dog eyes “where shall we meet then?”

“On the roof.” Logan said.

“Why the roof?” Virgil and Roman asked simultaneously.

“It’ll be empty and secluded once clubs are over everyone has gone home,” Logan replied coolly “which I’m assuming all of you have, right? A club to attend, I mean.”

“Yes, I have culinary club,” Patton said “we’re working on the bake sale for Friday night’s game.”

“Shit, yeah, I have dance,” Virgil said then groaned “Ms. Green is gunna make me work double time for missing yesterday.”

“You dance?” Roman asked surprised.

“Uh…yeah,” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment before snapping to the defensive “Is there a problem with that?”

Roman raised his hands up in surrender, “You think I, the theater geek, would be one to judge?”

“Well, you have with a lot of other things so excuse us if we’re a little surprised.” Logan chimed in.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Roman snapped.

“Exactly what I just said,” Logan said nonchalantly “anyways, I myself have debate club so we all should finish up at around the same time.”

“Hey, don’t just brush me off!” Roman said, frustration evident on his face.

“What use is there to continue on _that_ topic?” Logan asked “It’s not important to our current situation.”

Ignoring Logan’s statement Roman continued his rant, “Are you saying that I judge people based on how they look and what they like to do?”

“Yes,” Logan said bluntly “now can we please move on?”

“It’s not true!” Roman cried.

“Speaking from past experiences talking to you that’s highly unlikely,” Logan huffed “especially with Virgil.”

Roman glared at the bespectacled teen, “I don’t-”

“Hey, now,” Patton stepped in once more “I know Roman can be a bit eccentric and talk a big game at times but that doesn’t mean he out right judges’ people without getting to know their character a little bit. You assuming that he does is a bit judgy of you now, isn’t it?”

Logan gulped nervously at the glare? Pout? Patton was giving him and he immediately felt guilty, “I…guess so.”

“And Roman,” Patton turned to his best friend with the exact same look “maybe sometimes you’re a bit too quick to assume certain things about people. Speaking your mind is one thing but sometimes you can be kind of rude.”

“You’re right, Pat,” Roman sighed, rubbing his tired eyes “I don’t mean to pick fights it’s just…I’ve had a long morning.”

“I know,” Patton said, eyes softening once more “so have the rest of us but that doesn’t mean we should start turning against each other. We _need_ to stick together, we’re probably the only people on earth that know what each of us is going through right now. So, weather we like it or not we’re a team and we have to have each other’s backs.”

“Falsehood.” Logan said suddenly.

Virgil sighed, irritably, “Lo, don’t start up again…”

“No, I mean that we aren’t the only ones alone in this.” Logan corrected, all eyes were on him again, curious and anticipating.

The last warning bell rung and the four teens were uncertain if they should stay hidden and listen to what Logan had to say or start booking it to class. Thankfully, Logan decided for them, “After school, on the roof, don’t be late. Come on Virgil.”

And with that they all scurried out of the bathroom and raced to their first period.

\---

It was almost comedic how none of them ever noticed how many classes they had together. Like aside from their electives they all basically had the same classes together. Roman and Patton usually sit in the back of the class near the window, easier to get away with napping and passing notes, while Logan and Virgil sat near the center where they could easily blend into the crowed and not be called on as often by the teacher. Though that still wouldn’t stop Logan from raising his hand and blurting out answers and corrections. Point being they’ve never noticed each other before, they were in their own world doing their own thing with other students filling in for background noise. But now with their new freakish mutant powers they couldn’t not notice each other, especially with their weird colored auras buzzing and lighting them up like a fucking beckon.

It was like that all day, in every class, they tried to play it off like it was nothing, like nothing has changed and they’re in their own world but it didn’t work. They just kept fucking staring at each other and it didn’t matter if they were subtle about it or not because that stupid zing at the back of their heads would go off every time, they would feel eyes on them, and they knew! They all knew but they kept doing it anyway! Why? Because what else could they do?

Lunch came and went, an internal struggle within each of them debating weather on not they should sit with each other. They had no reason to do so other wise unless they used the excuse of that school field trip project but even then, that was flimsy and suspicious. They did not need anyone else suspecting them of hiding something when Dolion was already on their case.

Speaking of which, Dolion had been keeping an especially close eye on all of them all day. He wasn’t in all of their classes but he was in most and aside from each other they could practically feel his eyes burrowing in to the back of their heads. It did not help that this mutant power made them feel ten times more aware of themselves and the things around them. Their skin crawled when someone would accidently brush against them, they’d flinch when the bell rang, they’d race to their next class to get out of the crowed halls because it was so jam packed with people and noise and smells and they just couldn’t breathe.

Virgil was having the worst time out of all of them. His anxiety got bad sometimes and even on good days it could sneak up on him and leave him with a shitty day but this…this was the fucking worst! He kept accidently sticking to things and Logan had to say behind and help him out and that just made him feel even worse and caused them to be even more late for class.

Roman and Patton watched them from the sidelines, out of sight but never out of range. They weren’t too sure if they should intervene or mind their own business so they just lurked around like creeps. They figured if Logan or Virgil needed help, they would ask them and in turn they would do the same. Still, the day passed and none of them said a word to each other. Not even Logan and Patton who were stuck as lab partners. What would they even say?

“Yeah, nice weather we’re having, also do you think we’ll grow extra limbs now that we have mutant bug powers?”

Electives were the only classes they had by themselves and some how that was an even worse distraction. At least with four other people flashing like beckons you knew someone was right there when you needed them because they would understand your situation. But being alone, surrounded by other students, trying to act normal when you know that is far from the truth, is just horrible. How the hell were they going to get through their club meetings?

\---

Patton never thought he would dread going to culinary club but here he was hiding behind the nearby lockers debating weather or not he should just bail and wait on the roof by himself. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, he didn’t have to decided because one of the girls from his club spotted him.

“Hey Patton, it’s good to see you,” Her name was Valerie and she was the sweetest person Patton has ever met “we missed you yesterday, where’d you go?”

“Oh, uh, hi Valerie,” Patton fiddled bashfully with the end of his shirt “I-I got detention.”

“What? Why?” Valerie asked, quite shocked “Out of everyone in this school you’d be the last I’d ever expect to get detention.”

Patton became red with embarrassment, “Well…Dolion played a prank on me and I kind of freaked out. A friend of mine named Logan stood up for me and kind of scolded him but then Dolion got mad and wanted to fight him. Then me and my other two friends, Roman and Virgil, were trying to break them up but then Mr. Larry came in and saw. So, he gave us all detention but it didn’t go on our records and Dolion got extra detention this weekend.”

“Gosh, that must have really sucked,” Valerie said sympathetically.

Patton shrugged, “I just feel bad that I got all my friends in trouble because of something so dumb.”

“Hey now,” Valerie said sternly “it’s not your fault that Dolion was being a jerk and picking on you. Plus, your friends really care about you Patton, they don’t want to see you in distress.”

“Yeah, but I wish I could have done something more then just stand there,” Patton said glumly “if it hadn’t been for them I probably would of ran off crying.”

“Aw Patton,” Valarie sighed “sometimes you’re much too sweet for your own good. And sometimes that sweetness can cause you trouble but you have to remember, you’re worth standing up for.” she reached over and gently grasped his hand, “It’s okay not to feel happy all the time too.”

“Yeah I know,” Patton sighed “it’s just…”

“I know, I know, you don’t want to worry anyone,” She smiled sadly “you must have had a really bad morning to be able to rant to me.”

“I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“No, don’t be,” She assured “it’s good to talk about your problems, it’s a good way to help air out your feelings.”

“Well, thanks for letting me rant.” Patton chuckled.

“Any time,” Valarie replied “now we should get going, the meeting is going to start soon. Also, you never got around to teaching me that lemon square recipe.”

“Oh gosh, that’s right,” Patton said “I am so sorry, I was going to teach you yesterday but then detention and-”

“It’s fine, Patton,” Valarie soothed before he could continue “you have plenty of time to teach me to day if the meeting doesn’t run too long.”

“Absolutely.” Patton beamed, though it wasn’t totally genuine. He was still very stressed and anxious to be in a room full of people alone. Though out in the empty halls talking with Valarie had been nice so it gave Patton a little bit of hope he could do this. But that had just been them alone, what would he do when he was in room full of students and loud baking utensils? Patton gulped as he followed Valarie into the culinary class room and for once hoped for a short meeting.

\---

“One, two, three! One, two, three! Virgil, you’re off again!” Ms. Green sighed as she turned off the stereo. The entire class groaned, this was the third time they had to start the routine over because Virgil kept missing a step or getting off beat or something. It was seriously starting to stress him out more then he already was. Usually doing ballet helped calm his anxiety but right now with all the weird shit happening to his body it’s doing the exact opposite.

“Take five!” Ms. Green announced and the class disbursed into mindless chatter.

Virgil sighed tiredly as he began to trudge back to his bag near the back of the dance studio only to be stopped by Ms. Green. “Mr. Storm, please come here a moment.”

Virgil whined pathetically as he slowly made his way over to his dance instructor who looked very frustrated, “Yes, Ms. Green?”

“What’s going on with you today?” Her frustrated frown morphed into one of concern once she saw Virgil’s distressed face.

“Uh,” Virgil tugged at once side of his beanie nervously “I’m just not…feeling too great. I-I mean, I didn’t feel great last night so it’s kind of…lingering?”

“Is it because of your detention yesterday?” Ms. Green asked, she didn’t look mad or disappointed as Virgil previously thought, just curious.

“Kind of,” Virgil fibbed “there was a bug, I mean, there is a bug going around the school. Not a real bug, of course, like a cold and flu bug. Yeah, like that. Uh, I was sick and the doctor said it was a bug.”

Nailed it.

Ms. Green corked an eye brow suspiciously, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Virgil said a little too quickly before sighing “I’m fine, just…gotta find my rhythm again. It’s still getting out of my system…the bug.”

“Ah-huh,” Ms. Green nodded slowly “you’re lucky you don’t compete in anything. Although you really should.”

Virgil gave her a weary smile, having had this conversation too many times before and not wanting it to have it today of all days. Ms. Green kept on insisting that Vigil enter in dance competitions or audition for the production of Swan Lake they’d be doing in the spring. But Virgil kept rebutting that if he could barely get through a simple dance recital without vomiting on stage there was no why he’d be able to last through a four-act performance.

“Still not my thing Ms. Green.” He replied with a tight smile.

Ms. Green sighed, quickly dropping the subject, “Alright, go take five. Stretch out and be ready to go again. Start getting focused.”

“You got it.” Virgil gave her a thumbs up as he began to walk backwards towards his bag. He heard his stomach rumble for the fifth time and groaned as he searched through his backpack for any more chips.

“Skip out on lunch?” A voice asked from behind.

Virgil turned to find Terrance smiling at him with an extra water bottle shoved near his face. He quickly took it before addressing his question, “No, why do you ask?”

“That is a lot of wrappers,” Terrance pointed towards Virgil’s bag which was overflowing with candy and chip wrappers like some sort of volcano “I’m guessing you’re the one that emptied out the vending machine near hall B?

Virgil flushed, embarrassed as he stuffed the wrappers back in his backpack, “N-no, this was breakfast.”

Terrence frowned disapprovingly, “That’s pretty unhealthy.”

“Don’t worry, that’s not the worst thing that’s happened today.” Virgil assured as he finally found one last candy bar and stuffed it in his mouth. Before Terrence could ask what Virgil meant by that Ms. Green was already calling everyone back.

\---

Roman loved play rehearsal, seeing things get slowly piece together as the day of the play got closer and closer. And when you finally go on stage its even more amazing then you could ever imagen because you’ve spent months building this from the ground up, costumes, props, lighting, hours and hours of practice. It was all just great and amazing and Roman loved every minute of it!

“Is this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” Roman recited.

“Cut!” His director, Mr. Bell, called out “Roman, your blockings off again.”

Just not today…

Roman groaned, “Sorry, sorry, sorry, let’s- can we do it again?”

“It’s okay,” Mr. Bell sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose “let’s all just…take five.”

And with that the house lights went on and the students disbursed to go do their own thing. Actors huddled together to recite lines, techs came down for their box for fresh air and socializing, crew fiddled around with stage and props, and Roman exited stage left towards the dressing rooms.

Roman hated this, his new abilities were throwing him why off balance in both the physical and mental sense. The stage lights burned his eyes, he could here the whispering backstage, the creaking from the catwalk, and all eyes on him. For once in his life Roman did NOT want to be the center of attention.

“Hey girl!” Roman paused to see Remy waving at him as he came down the latter one of the catwalks.

“Hey Remy.” Roman smiled tiredly, he was in no mood to put up a charming persona and thankfully Remy was the type of person that could care less about keeping up appearances. He liked to “keep it real” like that.

“Oh god, you look like shit,” Remy replied once he was on the ground, sipping on a Starbucks cup that he always seems to have with him “what happened?”

Roman inhaled deeply, “So many things that I can even begin to comprehend myself. But I’m fine, really.”

“Woof,” Remy said “must have been some bad shit that went down because you’re usually a one hit wonder out there. But five takes? You sure you okay, boo? I heard what happened yesterday with that dick Dolion.”

“Yeah, it’s all fine now,” Roman sighed as he stretched his arms “just got to shake it off and get centered again.”

“Mmh, okay,” Remy shrugged nonchalantly “but if you ever need me to beat a hoe just ask. I don’t mind dirtying up my new Doc Martens.”

Roman chuckled, “Thanks but no thanks, I’ll keep that in mind though.”

“No prob babe,” Then Remy smirked “also, I saw you and Virgil Storm getting along quite nicely yesterday. Anything going on there?”

Remy laughed as Roman groaned again, flushing a deep scarlet before scurrying away “I’m gunna go practice my lines elsewhere.”

\---

“Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor and Director of the Center of Civic Media, stated that ‘Social media is critically important in giving voice to communities who’ve been systemically excluded from media – people of color, woman, LGBTQIA people, poor people. By giving people a chance to share their under-covered perspectives with broadcast media, social media has a possible role in making the media ecosystem more inclusive and fair’,” Emile Picani stated proudly “we are in an era where word gets around faster and problems can be caught early on to help fix them. We can share information and opinion that everybody can see and sort out issues much faster because of it.”

“Falsehood,” Logan said as soon as Emile finished “what about the manipulation of public opinion over social media platforms which can eventually lead to a critical threat to public life? Samantha Bradshaw, Researcher on the Computational Propaganda project at Oxford University, wrote a paper about how government agencies and political parties are exploiting the use of social media platforms to spread misinformation, exercise censorship and undermine trust in media, public institution, and science. Science Picani!”

“Yes, but where would we have learned any of this without social media,” Emile rebutted “not a lot of people are too keen on the idea of going to the library and reading research papers. Sometimes, small articles online talking about the issue can help spread awareness to others.”

“Yes, but can’t those same articles spread lies and slander at the same time?” Logan countered “Misleading people once more when they could have easily gotten the information from the source.”

“Who says there aren’t articles and groups dedicated to these ideas?” Emile said “In a hilarious state of irony, these groups came together because of social media, they made connections and helped raise awareness towards a common goal. Now, I’m not saying that social media is perfect but it is an important part of our culture. We should be working forward to improve it instead of tearing it down.”

Silence.

Logan chewed at the end of his thumb nail, absolutely stumped on what he should say. He hasn’t been able to think clearly all day. Everything was too loud and too quiet, to fast and too slow, it was driving him crazy.

The buzzer went off and the sound of Mr. Shelton’s voice boomed throughout the room, “Time. Picani wins. Brake time everybody, then we’ll choose teams for the next topic.”

Logan groaned, letting his head drop against the desk with a loud thud. A shadow loomed over him and he turned his head to the side and came face to stomach with Emile Picani’s yellow sweater. He lazily looked up to see the nervous yet concerned smile on Emile’s face.

“May I help you?” Logan mumbled.

Emile shook his head, “No, I was just wondering…are you feeling okay Logan? You were kind of…struggling to keep up back there.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Logan quickly defended, sitting up straight “I just…have a bit of a cold.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Emile quickly backtrack nervously “but, um, are you sure there’s not something else wrong?”

Curse Emile and his advanced human psychology classes. The kid was already super empathetic as it was as well as the second smartest student at the school. Logan being the first of course.

“What ever do you mean?” Logan said blankly, though inside he was panicking.

“You just seem kind of distracted by…” Emile made a vague gesture with his hands “Everything. Like, you’ve just suddenly realized the world is moving around you. Does that make sense?”

Yes, it did but Logan was not about to admit it because if he did Emile would be able to use that little amount of information to pull everything out of him. Emile wasn’t malicious by any means, next to Patton he was the kindest person you’d ever meet. He just had a way of making people feel comfortable enough to open up about their stress and (ugh) feelings.

So, he lied. “No, it does not make sense.”

Emile stared at him for a minute and Logan tried his best not to squirm under his intense gaze. It felt as if he was trying to search through the inner mechanisms of Logan’s brain just by scanning over his physical form. Finally, he blinked, sighing as he gave Logan a half-hearted smile. “You can be a tough cookie to read sometimes. Then there are other times where you’re an open book. It’s all very confusing.”

Logan didn’t know if he liked that metaphor or not so he just said what he thought was appropriate. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, no, you have nothing to be sorry about Logan,” Emile assured anxiously “I’m just being nosy and weird.”

“I don’t think you’re weird.” Logan said honestly. Yes, Emile was childish and liked cartoon but he was also extremally smart and one of the few people Logan can properly debate with without having to dumb down his vocabulary.

Emile blushed but gave a wide genuine smile, “Thanks for thinking so. Um, I’ll get out of your hair now.”

Logan nodded as he watched Emile walk away to socialize with the other members. His head returned to the desk, cheek pressed against the cool plastic wood, as he stared at the clock counting down the minutes left until he could meet the others.

\---

They all bumped into each other on the third floor, literally, they were so jittery with nerves and excitement they were practically sprinting towards the roof. They were quick to collect themselves before silently making their way up the fourth floor towards the stairs leading to the roof. They didn’t have to stay silent but just as it’s been all day, they had no idea what to say to each other, plus the paranoia that someone could be listening in like in the bathroom this morning.

They quickly filed out onto the wide-open space of the roof top, each standing about five feet apart from each other, not moving just, not talking, just listening. They hear the construction happening down the street but not just the noise of the machine scraping against the pavement but the conversations between coworkers about getting a beer after work. They could sense the movement of scurrying students beneath them as they all hurried to catch up with friends and walk home. They looked into the distant skyline where the city clustered together and they could make out every detail of every building, tree, person, and sidewalk. They could smell the warm pretzels being sold down town, cigarette smoke in cafes, and cheap perfume from the boys locker room. They could taste the bile building in their throats, the world around them becoming too much, it frightened them.

“What’s happening to us.” Virgil whimpered, pulling his jacket tighter around himself.

“I-I have a theory,” Logan stuttered out, taking a deep breath to calm himself “we were all bitten by the same enhanced super spider which had previously gone missing during our field trip to Oscorp yesterday.”

“I thought the guide said it was back in the lab.” Patton squeaked out, frantically looking around for more spiders.

“Yeah, how can you be so sure it’s the same spider?” Roman said skeptically.

Logan slid off his back pack and began rummaging through it until he pulled out a jar full of webbing and a familiar little spider inside. Virgil gawked at his best friend, “You brought it to school?”

“I didn’t trust leaving it at home alone,” Logan stated simply “I feared it would escape.”

“Escape…” the spider hissed “Freedom…”

“It talked!” Roman and Patton shrieked, scrambling backwards a few steps.

“Technically, it didn’t,” Logan said coolly, readjusting his glasses “it’s just that we can now hear at a higher frequency and can now get bits and pieces of conversations from-”

“That’s great Einstein but what does that…thing have to do with how we are now!” Roman cut in, getting more and more frustrated as time went on.

Logan glared at him but decided he was ultimately right and should get to the point, not that he would ever tell Roman that. “If we compare our bug bites, I can assure you that they will all look similar. Assuming that we all suffered the same symptoms afterward, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, memory laps, and/or fainting, then woke up like…this, my hypothesis is that the spider’s venom caused a mutated our DNA.”

“How can you be so sure?” Roman asked, taking a step forward with Patton clinging to the back of his shirt like a koala. Roman was ninety percent sure Patton had gotten himself stuck but that was something to worry about later.

“I mean, the evidence is irrefutable,” Logan said “but to be truly sure I’d have to do a blood test but I currently do not have the equipment for that and neither does the school.”

“Of course, you checked for that,” Virgil sighed, wanting to rub his face but worried his hand would get stuck again “So, what now? Are we gunna take it back to Oscorp or something? Because I’m pretty sure it’ll be mighty suspicious when four teenagers walk up to the front desk carrying a multimillion-dollar spider inside a Crofters jam jar.”

“Cookies!” Patton announced loudly, startling everyone, especially Roman since it was right next to his ear. Patton whispered an apology to his friend before detaching, with a bit of difficulty, from his back and searching through his back pack. He pulled out two clear colorful baggies, one filled with scones and another filled with peanut butter cookies.

Patton stepped forward to gift his friends the cookies only to suddenly stop short, “Um, can you…” he gestured towards the jar in Logan’s hands “p-put it away?”

Logan blinked owlishly before suddenly realizing what he meant and quickly tucked away the creature in his back pack, “Oh, yes, right, your, um, arachnophobia. I apologize for my ignorance.”

“Wow, Logan apologizing,” Virgil gasped in fake awe “that’s a first.”

Logan glared at his best friend but was soon faced to face with a smiling Patton, “I hope you like them. I was going to make them last night but then…ya know, that happened and I was a bit…frazzled this morning. So, tell me if they turn out okay, okay?”

“I’m sure they’ll be quite…adequate.” Logan gulped nervously, Patton was way too close but this wasn’t anything new. Patton seemed to have very little personal space with people he deemed his friends but right now with their newfound abilities he was just a burst of color and energy.

“Let’s hope your right.” Patton giggled before moving towards Virgil who took about two large steps back.

“J-just…put ‘em- on the…the…I’ll get them on the ground.” Virgil stuttered out, his hands moving along with his words as if it would help convey his feelings in the situation at hand.

Thankfully Patton got the hint and smiled warmly as he carefully placed the cookies on the ground before stepping back towards Roman. With a relieved sigh Virgil returned to his spot and picked up the bag, wordlessly nodding his thanks towards Patton.

“So, what are we gunna do?” Roman said, suddenly bursting the friendly atmosphere. He was really on edge right now and it was an overwhelming crushing feeling that just kept growing with every passing minute. “You said earlier this morning that there was someone similar to our situation, who?”

Logan cleared his throat, pulling out his phone and tapping a few things, “Right, well, who is someone that is well known to the public who climbs walls, has super strength, and has sort of spider like tendencies.”

It was silent, the three other teens looked clueless and Logan was just a bit disappointed. He turned to Virgil with a look and said, “Seriously, Virgil?”

“Dude, I can’t remember half the things I’ve done today, okay, everything is just like…” Virgil groaned, waving his arms around “and if I’m honest I’m still kind of freaking out, like, internally and maybe a little bit externally too. I don’t know, give it time.”

“Rainbow Weaver,” Logan said blankly “Rainbow Weaver has these same abilities.”

“Rainbow Weaver?” The trio replied, the wheels finally turning in their head.

“Yes.” Logan nodded.

“Okay, wait,” Roman said “two questions: 1) What makes you think Rainbow Weaver will even consider helping us? And 2) Even if he did, where would we find him?”

Logan continued to tap on his phone before flipping it over to show the other, “According to his fan page on Twitter: on 5th street near main.”

“That’s ten blocks away,” Patton said glumly “we’ll never make it on time.”

“Even if we run that’s at least thirty minutes tops.” Virgil added.

“Anymore bright ideas, pocket protector?” Roman snarked.

“Just about,” Logan said coolly, as he began to collect his things before slinging his backpack securely on himself. He turned a whole 360 degrees before stopping in place and making his way towards the left side of the building. The other’s followed, curious as to what he was looking for, they peered over at a few smaller buildings next door clustered together with signs obscuring the view of the roof tops as they reached higher and higher the deeper you went into the city.

“This’ll do.” Logan said as he began to walk back.

“This’ll do for what?” Virgil asked but he wasn’t answered because Logan was now sprinting back towards them and he wasn’t slowing down.

The others, panicked, blocked his path screaming and begging for him to stop and explain what the hell was going on. But even that did nothing to deter the bespectacled teen because he simply jumped, high. It surprised everyone, including Logan himself, when he was able to leap clear over not only all of them but all the way to the next building. He stumbled on his landing, legs tripping his forward before he was able to finally find his footing. Stunted silence and open mouths were left in his wake before Logan snapped out of his stupor and laughed with all the giddy glee of a child who just met his favorite super hero.

“Oh my god, that was exhilarating!” Logan cheered, waving his arms over at his friends “Come on! Come on! You gotta – you gotta do this!”

“You’re fucking crazy!” Virgil wheezed out, gripping onto the side of the building for dear life.

Roman chewed at his bottom lip before finally sighing and running back, “Fuck it.”

“W-wait, Roman, kiddo!” Patton squeaked “Shouldn’t we think this over first?”

“I did think it over,” Roman said, setting himself up for a running start “and I’m not gunna let iDork get ahead of me.”

“You’re both crazy!” Vigil shrieked.

Roman didn’t answer, instead he charged forward, wind whipping his hair and adrenaline pumping throughout his body. He got to the ledge and quickly used it as leverage to leap up, floating in mid air for just a moment before he came rocketing down towards the roof. He didn’t land as far as Logan but he had a much better landing, legs bent as he shakily straightened himself out. Roman looked towards Logan who was smiling like a mad man and Roman couldn’t help but join in his excitement.

“Holy shit you guys!” Roman exclaimed, jumping up and down “You have to try it! It’s amazing!”

Patton gulped nervously before looking towards Virgil, who was just about ready to have an aneurysm. He extended a nervous hand towards the emo boy and ~~asked~~ begged, “Jump with me.”

“What?” Virgil’s voice cracked as he took a step back “Are you serious?”

“Yes, no, kind of…” Patton whimpered “I don’t wanna do this alone! I’m scared a-and you’re scared too. B-but Logan and Roman were able to do it and more then likely we’ll be able to do it too, s-so with both of us pushing us off we’ll have a better chance of landing safer. Right?”

Virgil looked at Patton like he was insane (which he was!) staring between his face and the hand extended towards him. Finally, after a long silence, Virgil sighed, “Screw it.” And firmly took Patton’s hand as they made there way back towards the center of the building.

“If we fall I’m using you as a cushion,” Virgil threatened, hand squeezing Patton’s tightly “I’m just joking, I’m just…really fucking scared right now.”

“It’s okay,” Patton said warmly, squeezing back just as tight “I am too but you don’t need to jump with me if you don’t want to. I’m sure we can figure another thing out.”

“N-no, no, it’s fine,” Virgil assured quickly “it’s just we gotta do it now before I psych myself out.”

Patton nodded firmly, looking ahead as he and Virgil prepared to sprint forward. They heard shouts of encouragement from Logan and Roman, who were still riding on their adrenaline high, as they began their charge. Blood pumped loudly in their ears, legs picking up traction much faster then they were expecting, and just when Virgil thought he was going to freeze up at the last-minute Patton boosted forward giving him a strong tug before they were finally soaring through the sky. They looked to the sky line, at the busy city and its scurrying people and for a moment it was as if they were flying.

They collapsed into a heaping pile on the roof next door, groaning as Logan and Roman rushed over to help them. Virgil was quick to dust himself off, laughing like a lunatic as he did. “That was awesome!”

“Yeah!” Patton chimed in, jumping to engulf Roman in an excited hug.

“We should be able to reach him if we head this way!” Logan cut in through the excitement, pointing towards the building roof tops heading towards the heart of Manhattan.

The boys looked at each other, momentarily questioning weather this was a good idea, before a sly determined grin spread across their faces and they began to sprint, throwing caution to the wind.

\---

“Whooohooo!” Patton screamed joyously as he and his friends ran and jumped across the roof tops at a speed, they did not think was possible for a normal human.

They forgotten the map on Logan’s phone long ago and had no idea where they were going but somehow, they just knew they were going the right way. The tingling sensation at the back of their heads tugged them towards their destination as they enjoyed the rush of wind in their ears and adrenaline in their veins.

They reached their destination in no time but since they did not see their intended target anywhere, they decided to circle around a little to see if they could catch him. Though mainly the boys just wanted to see what they could do with their new-found powers. Climbing up the side of buildings, walking across utility wires, and using abandon construction sights as their own personal jungle gym. Somehow, they ended up on the roof of a pretty tall office building and decided to take a rest.

“Jesus Christ!” Virgil laughed hysterically “We’re so high up!”

“Are you okay?” Logan asked, he was concerned, really, he was, but Virgil’s laughter was contagious and the adrenaline was still buzzing in his system.

“No,” Virgil giggled as he laid down on his back “but give me a minute.”

“Deep breaths, kiddo,” Patton said as he flopped down next Virgil “this is a lot of excitement for one day, even for me.”

“I’ll second that.” Roman agreed as he too joined them on the ground.

Logan shrugged and settled himself between Virgil and Roman, all of them star-fished out in a circle watching the clouds roll by. Silence fell upon them once more as they began to soak in all that had happened to them that day. They weren’t as overwhelmed as they had been that morning, maybe running and jumping across buildings let them take out some of that jittery energy they had stored inside. Don’t get them wrong, they were still kind of freaking out but they were a little more calm about it. Especially since they knew that they weren’t alone in their endeavor. Sure, they might not be able to get Rainbow Weaver to help them but at least they had each other and that was a comfort that they were all truly grateful for.

“Do you think we can shoot spider webs like Rainbow Weaver can?” Roman asked, braking the peaceful silence.

“I’m not quite sure,” Logan said honestly “I tried at home but I just can’t seem to produce anything. Then again, not all spiders can make webs.”

“Hmm, true.” Virgil murmured, eyes closed as he practiced some deep breathing exercises.

Roman sat up, a determined look on his face, “I’m gunna try it.”

“How you gunna do that?” Patton asked, sitting up to face his friend with a slightly worried look in his eyes. Roman had that look again, he always got that look when he had a dangerous idea that would either get him in trouble or injured. It was the same look he had before he jumped off the school roof to chase after Logan.

“Well,” Roman began, hopping up to his feet “first I need to do a test shot. Uh, how does Rainbow Weaver do his…thing?” He began to flex his hand into various positions and poses.

Virgil, who was still on the ground, raised his arm up and did a sort of punk rock gesture, “Like this.”

_Thwhip!_

Virgil’s eyes snapped open when he heard the sound and felt a sliver of something eject itself from his wrist. He was surrounded by three pairs of shocked eyes as he slowly stood up, looking down at his hand with awe and slight concern.

“Do it again!” Logan said excitedly.

Virgil aimed towards a small utility shed near the other side of the roof and _thwiped!_ A long string of…something shot out from Virgil’s wrist and stuck to one end of the utility shed while Virgil held the other end. “Holy shit!”

“Fascinating,” Logan gasped in awe as he tugged on the silk string “you’re able to create your own webbing and by the feel of it it’s exactly as the guide described it, like steel cables.”

“It feels weird.” Virgil murmured as he detached the end of the string near his wrist.

“I’ll bet.” Roman said, looking over Virgil’s shoulder to get a better look at the webbing.

Patton, meanwhile, was trying to test out if he could do it too, he couldn’t. “Aw, I don’t think it works on me. What about you Roman?”

“Uh, let’s see.” He replied, taking a stance next to Virgil and aiming his arm towards the same shed. He pressed down on his palm with his two middle fingers and… _thwip!_ “Holy shit…that felt weird!”

“I know right!” Virgil chimed in as they all now began to look over Roman’s web string.

“It would seem that me and Patton are incapable of producing web,” Logan deduced “but I’m fairly certain we may be able to produce some sort of silk, as all spiders do. It’s just the means of figuring it out…”

“I’m gunna swing across the other building!” Roman announced suddenly, causing everyone to jump and stare as he raced towards the edge of the building.

They were quickly snapped out of their surprise as they realized what Roman had said and went to chase him down before he did something stupid. Unfortunately, they were not quick enough because Roman had already launched another string of web and was getting ready to jump.

“Roman, wait!” Patton cried.

“It might not be safe!” Logan warned.

“Get down from there you idiot!” Virgil shouted.

“Tally ho!” Roman hollered as he pushed himself off the building and swung through the air.

Roman seemed fine at first, swinging through the air above the busy streets like some sort of extreme swing set. But then he realized, as the building he attached himself to got closer and closer, he had no idea what he was doing or how to stop. The only thing he could do at the moment was shut his eyes, curl up into a ball, and wait for impact. He vaguely recalled hearing the others scream before he was suddenly wooshed up into the air again.

When Roman opened his eyes to see what he had collided with on his way to his impending doom all he could see was rainbow. A rainbow arm holding him tight against a rainbow clad body and when he looked up to see a rainbow masked, white eyed figure a familiar buzzing was felt at the back of his head and he then noticed that the masked figure’s aura was a multi colored light show.

“You’re just like me!” Was all Roman could think to blurt out.

The figure looked down at him, slightly confused, until his eyes widen in sudden realization and he said, “Holy shit, you’re right.”

Once safely back on top of the building Roman was promptly tackled down by a sobbing Patton, “Don’t ever, ever do that again!”

“Yeah, not my brightest moment.” Roman admitted sheepishly.

The reunion was cut short due to a very furious looking Virgil who came stomping over, separated the two friends, then proceeded to punch Roman’s shoulder, hard. The theater geek cried out in protest, taking a few steps back before Virgil could get another swing in, “Ow, what the fuck!”

“You could have gotten yourself fucking killed you moron!” Virgil growled.

“That was very reckless of you, Roman,” Logan added crossly “even for your standards.”

“Oh, sez the one that convinced us to jump off a building,” Roman snapped back “excuse me for trying to follow the ‘smart ones’ lead and thinking this was a good idea.”

“The buildings were closer together and I calculated the right momentum needed to get across!” Logan countered, taking a step towards Roman “Given our new-found abilities it was obvious to be an easy jump!”

“Yeah, for you! How could you have been so certain for the rest of us, smartass?” Roman rebutted, getting up in Logan’s face as well.

“Simple physics really, something that a half wit like you could never understand!” Logan growled.

“Was it really physics or one of your scientific guesses?” Roman sneered.

“It’s called a theory you brainless Neanderthal!” Logan replied.

“Erlenmeyer trash!”

“Drama turd!”

“Cotton headed ninny muggings!”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“Jesus Christ there are four of you!” The masked figure said as he got in between the two fighting teens.

Silence overtook the group as they stared up and finally realized who was talking to them. Clad in a rainbow spider themed suit with a sort of glider/cape mesh between his arms, his aura a burst of bright colors, it was the one, the only…

“R-R-Rainbow Weaver!” Virgil squeaked out, completely star structed.

“Yeah, and who might you guys be? Also, what’s going on with…” Rainbow Weaver gestured towards the group as if pointing out the colorful aura he could also see around them “…everything?”

“R-Rainbow Weaver…” Was apparently all Virgil could say now.

“Is everything okay?” Rainbow Weaver said worriedly as he scanned over the group of teens frozen in awe. Not that he wasn’t use to this but he just kind of figured out that these boys might have super powers like him so he really needed answers like now.

“Um, m-mister Rainbow Weaver, sir, uh…” Logan stuttered out, uncharacteristically shy at the moment, “w-we were actually looking for you but we couldn’t – uh, we were searching the city and someone on Twitter said they saw you here – around here and, uh, we kind of, um, wanted to talk…to you…”

“Take your time kid.” Rainbow Weaver soothed gently, the teen looked like he was getting ready to have a stroke.

“We got bit by a spider!” Patton blurted out before covering his mouth shut.

“Okay, go on.” Rainbow Weaver said with an encouraging nod.

Patton bashfully removed his hands from his mouth, fidgeting in place as all eyes were on him now, “Uh, well, we went on a field trip to a science lab thing in Oscorp where they had these creepy, crawly mutant spiders and one of them had escaped but the tour guide said not to worry because it was probably back in the lab, but it wasn’t, so it escaped and some how bit all of us and then we woke up with weird powers like: we can stick to the wall and jump really high and everything is really loud and bright and we have these weird color auras and I couldn’t fit into any of my cute clothes and we didn’t know what to do so Logan said we should find you and ask cause you have similar powers to us so we jumped off the school building and ran around the city to find you but we couldn’t, then Virgil found out he can shoot web but me and Logan can’t so Roman tried to swing to the next building over and almost died and then you came and I’m really scared right now so can you please tell us what’s going on!”

Patton finally stopped to suck in a big gulp of air having been so nervous he said everything in one breath. Roman went over to rub soothing circles on his distressed friend’s back as Patton regained the ability to breath. Rainbow Weaver, meanwhile, was trying to process all that had been said but also make sure that Patton was doing okay.

“Okay, first, I need you to calm down for me,” Rainbow Weaver cooed, a firm hand on Patton’s shoulder “breath in for four…hold for seven…out for eight…good.”

Once Patton was calmed down some Rainbow Weaver continued, “Second order of business, how old are you guys and what are your names?”

“I’m Roman Marigold and I’ll be seventeen in a month,” Roman answered as he hugged Patton close “this is my best friend Patton Foster and he’s seventeen.”

“I’m Logan Quinn,” Logan pipped up, finally pulling himself together “I’m seventeen as well as my friend Virgil Storm here.”

Virgil gave a shy wave, somewhat hiding behind his taller friend, Rainbow Weaver waved back, a kind smile visible through his mask. It seemed odd how quick the boys were to trust him, even if he was a famous super hero, he was still a stranger. But be it because of their weird aura or the kindness in Rainbow Weaver’s voice the boys knew he could be trusted.

“Okay, third order of business, is the spider that bit you guys dead or still crawling around the city?” Rainbow Weaver asked.

“Oh no, I have it in my backpack!” Logan said, quickly removing his backpack and rummaging around for the jar he had it in earlier.

“Excuse me?” Rainbow Weaver said confused before a jar with a colorful, weird looking spider was shoved in his direction. He took a step back to get a better look at it and vaguely heard Patton whimpering fearfully in the background. He sighed, scratching the back of his head, “Well, that’s just great, Oscorp didn’t learn after the first time it happen.”

“First time?” Logan asked curiously, pulling the jar back towards his chest, the spider skittering nervously.

“How do you think _I_ got like this?” Rainbow Weaver chuckled, hollow and devoid of enthusiasm “But, yeah, this has happened before. A few years back, when I was in high school actually, god only knows what they’ve been able to do now with all the technological advances throughout the years.”

“What do you mean?” Virgil asked, curiosity finally letting him find his voice.

“Well, I-” Rainbow Weaver began but was cut off by four loud rumbling stomachs. His eyes widen with surprise at the blushing teens before bursting out into laughter. “God, you kids must be hungry. Having mutant powers will take a lot out of you, I’ll tell you that, especially if you’re still a growing teenager. How ‘bout we go out and get something to eat and I’ll try to explain everything as best as I can?”

“But don’t you have to watch the city?” Roman asked.

Rainbow Weaver shrugged, “It ain’t going nowhere, besides I have my ways of figuring out if I’m needed or not.”

“Um, are you sure?” Virgil asked timidly “We don’t want to keep you from, you know, important things.”

“Kid, right now this is the most important thing on my list,” Rainbow Weaver assured “I know for sure I would have liked someone to talk to when I was going through all this mess.”

“Um, mister Rainbow Weaver,” Patton chirped “not that we aren’t thankful that you’ll help but wouldn’t we look suspicious walking together on the street or jumping across buildings with you?”

“Not if I’m in civilian clothes, which by the way, I should have a pack here somewhere.” Rainbow Weaver wandered off towards the utility shed across the building and opened it to reveal a plain black backpack squished under an electrical control panel.

“Civilian?” Roman said aloud before realizing what was happening “Wait, isn’t revealing your true identity against some sort of hero’s code or something? I mean, unless you’re the Avengers but-”

“It’s fine,” Rainbow Weaver cut in having already finished changed, they hadn’t even turned away for a full minute! He was wearing some worn, baggy clothes that had probably come from a thrift store and was now stuffing his Rainbow Weaver costume into his bag, all was left was the mask he still had on. “I mean you can’t expect us to have an open honest conversation with each other if I’m hiding behind a mask, right?”

Casually, as if he wasn’t just entrusting four teenagers with his biggest secrete, Rainbow Weaver removed his mask to reveal a familiar face that had Roman and Patton silently squealing, Virgil to be even more star struck, and caused Logan’s jaw to hit the floor. The man before them ruffled his peppered brown hair nervously as he gave a lopsided smile, “Uh, hi, my name is Thomas Sanders…we have a lot to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish Spoken:
> 
> “Rest a little, my love, the doctor said you had a sickness that had been going around. Patton has it too, but I've heard that he's fine now, he just needs to rest. Do not go to school if you do not feel like it. There is a broth in the refrigerator to heat up if you are hungry.”
> 
> “Stupid sticky hands!”  
> \---  
> Song mentioned:  
> Lovely by Billie Eillish  
> \---  
> Please leave a comment and kudos!


	3. Hungry, Hungry Spiders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas agrees to help the newly muted spiderkids control their powers but there is a limit to be discussed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry this is late guys! A lot of things have been going on and I wasn’t able to finish the chapter on time yesterday. But it’s here now and I hope you like it. As always I would like to thank the lovely sugarglider9603 and ask-spiderverse-virgil on Tumblr for there lovely AU for without it I would not have the inspiration to write this. ENJOY!!!

So, after the group of teens were done freaking out because “holy shit, Thomas Sanders, top YouTube celebrity, is THE Rainbow Weaver!” Thomas decided to take them to a small but cozy pizza place down town. He bought them six boxes of pizza, hot wings, fries, onion rings, ice cream shakes and a few other goodies, much to the teens protests and insistence that they could pay for themselves. Thomas assured them that it was fine but that still didn’t stop them from arguing that it wasn’t. He payed no mind to their comments as he payed for the food and lead them towards the back of the restaurant where a large circular booth resided, big enough to fit them all.

As Thomas watched these teens…these children scarf down their food like they hadn’t eaten a day in their lives he couldn’t help but worry. He knew exactly how scary it must be for them to suddenly gain strange new powers and not know what to do with them. But the difference between them was that Thomas got his powers near the middle of his senior year of high school and these kids were still…sophomores? Junior? Either way, they were still much to young to be worrying about powers and weird things like that. Unlike them Thomas didn’t have much of a “social life” in high school and college so being Rainbow Weaver was a good distraction from that but these kids…he doubt they were the same.

They had come searching for him for help and honestly Thomas was totally willing to give them whatever help they needed. He just didn’t know what? He wasn’t a teacher, he was a chemical engineering and theater major that did YouTube videos and super heroing on the side. I mean, if they needed help controlling their powers Thomas would to the best, he could to teach them but if they wanted to become super heroes…

“Are you okay, Mr. Sanders?” Thomas looked up to see four pairs of curious eyes looking at him, still munching away at their meal. He was pretty sure it was the stoic looking kid that asked him this, Logan he believed his name was.

“Hmm, yeah,” Thomas said, shaking his head “yeah, why do you ask?”

“You kind of have this…” The loud kid, Roman if he was remembering correctly, gestured towards him “…face, like you’ve just kind of walked into your doom.”

Thomas saw how the groups shoulders slumped, the mood severely brought down by that statement and he really didn’t want to see these boys in anymore distressed then they already were.

“Oh, no, no, uh, I was just…thinking you know,” Thomas sighed, rubbing his face tiredly “like, how is it that Oscorp can screw up twice and let a multimillion-dollar mutant spider escape…again! Like, they’re supposed to be a bunch of geniuses, right? But they’re letting this happen again and god only knows how much more powerful that little spider is. I was lucky enough to have accidently stepped on mine and killed it but it seems that little guy you got there is a bit smarter.”

“Indeed,” Logan perked up “from what I was able to study and pick up from its distorted speech pattern, it seems to know what it’s doing. It was trying to kill us as it saw us as a potential threat, which is why the venom dosage increased with each victim, but it unknowingly mutated our DNA. To say it was disappointed that I woke up the next morning is…an understatement.”

“It likes me though.” The gloomy kid, Virgil he recalled, stated smugly.

Logan rolled his eyes, “Yes, well you did help it escape out your window so of course it sees you as some sort of ally.”

“Are we just going to skip over the fact that it TRIED to kill us?” Roman said worriedly.

“Yes, because I don’t wanna think about it,” The cutesy kid, Patton, whined childishly but there was a glint of fear in his eyes “and for the record tell that creepy crawly death dealer that I don’t like it either!”

“It’s nothing personal Patton,” Virgil assured “consciously or not it’s just a defense mechanism all spiders have when they’re scared.”

“I don’t care,” Patton cried “I still don’t want it anywhere near me!”

Thomas watched as they continued to argue and bicker, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and the bitter taste of dread at the pit of his stomach. These were kids, teenagers really but still kids none the less, still full of life and wonder. He couldn’t burden them with the life of a hero. All the worry and sleepless nights and existential dread that came along with the job would definitely snuff out whatever innocence these boys had left. But he couldn’t just leave them to their own devices, they needed guidance on how to navigate their new-found powers. He’d be willing to do that, only that, nothing else. His job was dangerous as it was and he didn’t need to drag these kids into it, especially if they still don’t yet know how to control their powers.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” Thomas said, finally interrupting the boys’ argument “I can help you guys out, well, I can try. I’ll help you guys understand what you’re going through and how to control your powers better, though I’m not sure if we’re exactly the same in that regard. Again, I have no idea what advances Oscorp has made in genetic splicing. You all could have totally different powers then what I’m used to.”

“We have all the basic functions,” Logan explained helpfully “though only Virgil and Roman can make webbing and I assume you can’t hear at the frequency we have; thus, you can’t hear the spider talking.”

“You would be correct in that assumption,” Thomas nodded “though, I mean, sometimes I can sense where they are and how they’re feeling but that’s about it. Nothing too crazy. Anything else?”

“None that we know of,” Roman shrugged “we’ve just been sticking to things all day and seeing weird colors radiating off each other like fireworks and this weird buzzing in the back of our head that keeps telling us somethings happening.”

“Yeah, that would be your spidy sense.” Thomas said.

The boys tilted their heads like some sort of adorable, confused puppy, “Spidy sense?”

“It’s a thing that I have and you guys have that makes us a LOT more aware of our surroundings,” Thomas explained “how do you think I’m able to attack, dodge, and shoot things without even looking at them?”

“Oh, you mean precognition,” Logan said “like the crab spider.”

“Sort of,” Thomas said “think of it as a sort of alarm clock that goes off every time dangers near.”

“Oh great, just what I need in my life,” Virgil said sarcastically “even more anxiety.”

“Yeah, that’s gunna be a tough one for you to handle bud,” Thomas said sympathetically “given that you have anxiety it’ll feel like one and the same but I’ll teach you a few tricks to help tell the difference.”

Virgil gave him a shy appreciative smile and Thomas all but melted as the kid mumbled, “Th-thanks…that would…help a lot actually.”

No Sanders! Do not get attached to these kids! Do not!

“So, um, what are we gunna do now?” Patton piped up shyly “Are you gunna teach us to be super heroes?”

“Do we get to be your sidekicks?” Roman asked excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat.

Thomas bit the inside of his cheek anxiously, “Um, well, I’ll teach you guys how to control your powers and understand yourselves better and everything but I don’t think-”

“Obviously, we would have to train a significant amount before even considering becoming his sidekicks.” Logan stated plainly.

“I know that Einstein,” Roman huffed “I’m just asking!”

“Wait, if we’re gunna do this are we gunna have to make our own costumes or something?” Virgil asked “Because I don’t know if I’m willing to put in that much effort.”

“Ooo, Roman and I can help you guys if you want,” Patton offered “I’m good at sewing and Roman sometimes helps out the costume department at the drama club.”

“Thank you, Patton, but I don’t think we should be thinking about costumes until _after_ we’ve completed our training.” Logan said.

“Boo you whore,” Roman grumbled “you’re no fun.”

“You are not super heroes!” Thomas said firmly causing the table to go quiet, all four boys staring at him with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. He sighed, “Look, guys, my job as Rainbow Weaver, it’s not a game. It’s dangerous and tiring and…is the biggest responsibility you could ever ask for.”

The boys fidgeted in their seats, having now realized they were sort of jumping to conclusions and not seeing the reality of the situation. Thomas continued on, “You guys are just kids, you’re still in high school, you’re still growing, you still have a life! I don’t want you guys to leave that behind. Being a super hero may seem cool and glamorous but it’s a lot of work and sometimes…” There was a look of pain that flashed across Thomas is eyes, too quick for the boys to properly evaluate “…sometimes you won’t be able to save everyone. This is a job where you can’t afford to make mistakes because they have dire consequences. For you, the people around you, their families, everyone, they’re all affected. And no one will give you the benefit of the doubt because you’re a hero and it’s your _job_ to protect them.”

It was silent for a moment then Roman asked, quiet and unsure, “If it’s such a burden then…why did you become a hero?”

The look of pain and regret returned to Thomas is eyes as he ran an anxious hand across his salt and pepper brown hair, “To become a better person then what I once was.”

“What does that mean?” Virgil asked bravely but still quite gentle.

“Sometimes,” Thomas began carefully “things happen and…people get hurt and then you have no choice but to take responsibility for that.” No one pressed him any further but it seemed Thomas still had more to say, “You guys have an opportunity to…live a normal life. I had that opportunity but the choices I made forced me to abandon it and I regret it so much. But I knew it was something to be done and because of it I did end up helping a lot of people but…also hurting a lot of people as well.”

Finally, Thomas looked back up at them, a strong determined look in his eyes, “I don’t want you guys going through the same experiences as I did. I want you boys to live your lives as normally as possible. Go out, make friends, date, have parties, worry about exams…live a life. Because if you choose to go down this path _this_ will be your only life, do you understand?”

It was quiet again, this time much longer and this time it was Logan who chose to brake it, “No offence, Mr. Sanders, we understand completely what you’re trying to tell us but what else do you expect us to do with these abilities?”

Thomas sighed tiredly, “Look, kid-”

“No, we get it,” Logan continued “well, at least, I know I do. I can not speak for us all but I understand how big of a responsibility this is. But do you really expect us to go about our lives normally as we did before? How are we supposed to live “normally” when we know that we are anything but? How are we going to go our whole lives doing nothing and letting our powers sit dormant when we can feel it itching beneath our skin? Honestly, could _you_ have done that?”

Thomas thought a moment, flashing back to when he first got his powers and how everything felt jittery and loud. How he had trouble sitting still and had been restless for days. Then he became Rainbow Weaver and everything changed, it was difficult yes but it really helped get out a lot of that nervous, restless energy he had inside him. He felt he was using his powers correctly and not just sitting there while his head buzzed like an angry hornets’ nest. When he first got his powers, he knew he needed to do SOMETHING with them but he didn’t know what. That lead to a lot of trouble be even then after he knew that he still couldn’t just sit there.

“I’ll admit that I would have been restless and miserable my entire life if I hadn’t become Rainbow Weaver,” Thomas answered honestly “however, I think I still would of chosen to do so instead of taking on the mask.”

“Do you really hate being Rainbow Weaver that much?” Virgil asked. He looked…hurt? Disappointed? Thomas wasn’t quite sure but he knew for sure that he didn’t like it.

“I don’t hate being Rainbow Weaver,” Thomas said, looking out the window next to their booth “it’s just…after a couple of years it kind of takes a toll on you. I’m just a tired, grumpy old man, nothing special.”

More silence, the boys quietly mulling over the conversation, fidgeting with that same restless energy mentioned earlier and then…

“You’re special to me.”

Thomas looked back to see Roman staring back at him with a pout and a gentle yet fiery look in his eyes. “You may not think yourself special as a person but to me, be it Thomas Sanders or Rainbow Weaver, you’ve brought…just a little bit more joy into my life. And maybe it’s not a lot to someone like you but it’s a lot to me. So…if I could be able to do that for someone, even if it’s just one person, I’d be over the moon.

“I understand your concern and you’re absolutely right, this is not a game. But Logan is, dare I say it, right, we can’t just sit around letting these powers fester inside us. What are we supposed to do with our selves for the rest of our lives? Can’t go back to being normal when we know for damn sure we’re not and I don’t know about the rest of you but I want to do more with my life. Especially now that I can!”

Thomas sighed once more, rubbing a hand over his face and hair, “You gotta understand kid, this isn’t like the comic books. The dangers and hardships are real and once you’re in there is no going back.”

“And I accept that,” Roman replied firmly “I accept all of it and everything and…if I live to regret it then oh well. But I know that I’ll regret it more knowing I had the power to do something but instead chose to do nothing. In the end it’s my choice and nobody else is.”

Well, I’m not sure about the whole super hero thing,” Virgil pipped up “but…I do feel like I should be doing something with these powers. I’ve taught my self to play it safe and keep quiet my whole life but now…now I wanna do something more. I don’t want to just sit here letting the world pass me by anymore I want…I want to do something spontaneous and brave.

“A-and I know this isn’t some sort of hobby you pick up like dancing or painting or something,” Virgil said quickly “but I feel like…it’s something I _need_ to do. Something I have to do. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“I…” Thomas wanted to say yes, yes, he understood everything that they were saying because it was what drove him to be Rainbow Weaver in the first place. But he also wanted to lie and say no, just so he can protect these kids from the horrors that awaited them down the hero’s path.

“Plus,” Patton added “you look like you could use the help. It must be difficult looking after an entire city alone. And since we all have powers now, we can make the work a whole lot easier for you in return for you helping us control our powers.”

“Indeed,” Logan said, readjusting his fake glasses “crime rate will surely go down in numbers with five on the team. It will give you time to have optimal rest between shifts as well as pursue what ever other hobbies you previously could not do. It’s a solid business proposition for all of us, we get the proper training we need to control our new-found abilities and you have a more balanced out schedule for both your vigilante duties and personal life.”

Thomas looked over these kids, determination in their eyes and fire in their bellies, ready to take on the weight of the world for him. They were stubborn and foolish and so not ready for anything yet to come…but it would be very hypocritical of Thomas to deny them this path. Plus, he wasn’t their parent, it wasn’t like he could completely tell them what to do. All he could do was warn them of what was ahead and hope to whatever god above they take his advice. Thomas sighed again, then he groaned, then he banged his head against the table because these kids were so stubborn, exactly like him, and it was all just so frustrating. He looked back up at them, face squished against the table as four pairs of worried eyes stared at him, he probably looked insane. He probably was insane but was too deep in shit to actually be affected by anything now.

“Fine.” Thomas said, he was so going to regret this.

“Fine what?” Roman asked.

Thomas made a vague gesture with his hand, “Fine, I’ll…teach you and train you guys and, if you really want, I’ll…consider letting you help me out a bit.”

“Really?” Logan said, somewhat excitedly, like a child on Christmas.

If this were not such a serious matter Thomas would of laughed, “But nothing to dangerous, just…common things, purse muggers, corner store robberies, assaulters, jay walkers, all that jazz.”

“Hey, that’s good enough for me.” Virgil said, a small excited smile growing on this face.

“Me too!” Patton exclaimed.

“I second that motion.” Logan added.

“Epic!” Roman cheered.

“But!” Thomas interrupted “You guys are still minors and in high school so you all are under my rule, got it? You do exactly as I say when I say it.”

They all nodded enthusiastically, still jittery with excitement as Thomas continued to give out instructions, “This is a dangerous job and I want you all trained first and for most. So, we aren’t gunna be going out on patrol anytime soon, get that into your head right now. Secondly, it is imperative you keep all of this a secret, everything we do can not only put you at risk but your families and friends.”

“Luckily, I don’t have any friends.” Virgil half joked.

Logan rolled his eyes, “Gee, thanks.”

“Thirdly,” Thomas cut in, his expression growing dark and serious “if you guys are going to do this, you have to be willing to put everything you have into this. No short cuts, no half assed effort, no walking away. It’s all or nothing, got it?”

“Got it.” They echoed, just as serious and determined as Thomas feared they’d be.

“Alright,” Thomas huffed, leaning back to stretch “let’s finish up here and then we have to go somewhere.”

“Where?” Patton asked curiously.

“There are a few people I want you to meet.” Thomas smirked mysteriously.

\---

Thomas had been worried at first, it was very suspicious for a grown adult man to take for underaged teenagers to his house. It gave off the wrong impression to people and made him look like a creep. But what else could he do but make sure the boys were safe and comfortable, assuring them that nothing bad would happen even though when he said it out loud it still sounded mildly disturbing. Like sure, he was Rainbow Weaver, but he was still a stranger to these boys and he did not want to scare them off when they had no where else to turn to for help.

Thankfully the boys understood Thomas is worry and were careful to not crowed around too much to make it seem weird. When they got to his neighborhood Roman commented that the two-story brownstone townhouse Thomas lived in looked like the house from Stuart Little. Thomas paused a moment, tilting his head back to get a good look at his house before chuckling and reluctantly agreeing that, “Yeah, you’re kind of right.”

Inside, the house was spacious and neat, band, concert, musical and play posters hung on the wall alongside pictures of Thomas and his friends and family. There were lots of colors, figurines from movies and shows, potted plants on shelves, tables and corners, and just and overall warm atmosphere.

“Whoa, your house is really neat-o!” Patton exclaimed, excitingly looking over one of the potted plants filled with sweet peas.

Thomas smiled bashfully, “Oh, thanks, I-”

“You went to a My Chemical Romance concert?!” Virgil gasped softly as he stared at one of the hung-up posters “And you got it signed?!”

“Yeah,” Thomas nodded “me and Joan went-”

“You went to see Hamilton!” Roman squealed, looking up at another poster “And you got it signed by Lin Manuel Mirandas!”

“Yes and-”

“Do you have the entire anthology of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle’s work?” Logan asked excitedly, he ran his finger over the books of the bookshelf and plucked out The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

“Not entirely but-”

“Oh my gosh!” Patton squealed, running over to the living room towards the shelf filled with pop vinyl’s “You have a bunch of Winnie the Pooh pops! And Steven Universe! I love that show!”

“I heard Steven Universe!” Roman exclaimed, rushing in behind his friend.

“Where?” Virgil chimed in, not to far behind with Logan tailing along, nose deep in a Sherlock Holmes book.

“You have a record player!” Roman gasped, quickly kneeling to look through Thomas is record box “What types of records do you have?”

“Oh, David Bowie!” Patton smiled as he pulled out a record.

“Cool, the Beatles White Album!” Virgil grinned.

“Isn’t that the one that Charles Manson was obsessed over?” Roman asked.

“It’s still a good album.” Virgil and Thomas said at the same time. They blinked at each other in surprise before dissolving into a fit of giggles. It was all a little more chaotic then what Thomas was expecting but it wasn’t unwelcome. Thomas didn’t usually have many people over except for Joan and Talyn so it was…nice hearing the house so full of laughter.

Speaking of Joan and Talyn…

“Thomas? Is that you?” A voice from down the hall made it’s way closer and closer to the living room where it was revealed to belong to a lanky, scraggily looking person in an orange beanie. “Talyn and I just finished-”

They paused, looking over the scene carefully as the boys all froze like deer caught in headlights. They scanned over each teen one by one before making direct eye contact with Thomas and carefully asking: “What the hell is going on?”

“Joan, uh,” Thomas flubbered in place, caught way off guard “look, hears the thing, uh, they have what I have.”

“That isn’t making any of this look any better Thomas!” Joan exclaimed, frustrated.

“Uh…”

“We have spider powers!” Roman butted in, shooting a web at a nearby picture frame causing it to fall and brake “Sorry!”

“God damn it Roman!” Virgil shrieked “Be careful, this isn’t your house!”

“Oh please,” Roman huffed “as if you weren’t just going through his vinyl collection not five seconds ago. And without permission might I add.”

“You did so as well,” Logan rebutted “so it’s kind of hypocritical of you to make that statement.”

“Right back at you!” Roman shot back, gesturing to the book in Logan’s hands.

The bespectacled man flushed with embarrassment, setting the book down on a nearby table as Virgil bounced back up, “Well, he’s not the one that broke something!”

“Come on guys, please no fighting.” Patton begged but it fell on deaf ears and soon the room was filled with loud arguing. Joan and Thomas observed the chaos unfold silently, contemplating what their best course of action should be. Wait it out? Get involved?

“What’s going on?” Another voice chimed in and the room went silent once more, turning to find a short person with orange and black hair. Joan pointed to Thomas who merely shrugged sheepishly and said: “Talyn, you’re never gunna believe this.”

\---

They head down towards Thomas is basement (which still sounds super fucking creepy) and find that it has been transformed into pretty sizable high-tech lab. If Logan had been excited by the books that Thomas owned, he was over the moon by all the gadgets and text books he had down there. He kept asking question after question about how everything worked and what did this do and what did that do? Thomas found the whole thing very amusing, like watching a little kid at a candy store.

“Did you all make all this stuff?” Logan asked excitedly.

“Well, it was mainly Joan and Talyn.” Thomas said.

“Don’t sell yourself short man,” Joan scolded lightly, patting their friend on the back “you did a lot of the designing and schematics. Not your fault you had to be out saving everybody.”

“Stay still please,” Talyn ordered gently, seating Logan on a near by chair next to Patton, Roman, and Virgil who had a few suction cup wires stuck to their foreheads, necks, chests, and arms. “The scanning process will go a lot faster if we’re able to draw blood from you and use is as a sort of blue print to navigate your body. Is that okay?”

The boys looked at each other tentatively before all nodding in agreement. As Talyn got a few petri dishes and micro slides ready Joan had taken the spider from Logan’s backpack and transferred it into a small containment unit that was hooked up to the large motherboard computer. Thomas watched anxiously from the sideline as his friends scurried around to get everything ready.

“So, what are you gunna do to us?” Virgil asked nervously as Talyn carefully wiped down one of his fingers with rubbing alcohol.

“Well, we took a sample from the spider and scanning it right now to see what’s been mixed in to it,” Talyn explained as they took a clean syringe needle and pricked his finger with it dropping blood into the petri dish and micro slid before bandaging it up. It hadn’t even hurt. “Then we’re gunna use your DNA to see what’s been transformed as well as to easily scan your vitals.”

“Why are you doing that?” Patton asked as he watched them move on to Roman.

“Well for one, to make sure your mutation is stable,” Joan chimed in helpfully “and to also see what other abilities you guys may have. Keep in mind you guys may or may not have other abilities within you that will take a bit of time to, uh, activate.”

“What happens if our mutation isn’t stable?” Roman asked, rubbing his bandage finger.

The adults were quiet for a moment which of course did not sit well with the teens one bit. Talyn gently smiled at them, wrapping up Patton’s finger before finally moving on to Logan. “Don’t worry about it, it’s most likely not going to happen. You boys seem pretty stable from what we’ve observed.”

“That’s not ominous at all.” Virgil said sarcastically.

“Starting scan,” Joan announced once Talyn was finish getting their sample from Logan. They typed away quickly at the computer as a long beam of blue light scanned the quartet up and down and a light tingly sensation was felt where the suction cups were attached. The boys didn’t move once, much to fearful they might accidently mess up the scanning process, Virgil didn’t even want to breath.

Finally, after a few seconds, there was an audible beep and the blue lights shut off. Virgil, along with the other three, let out a loud sigh, shoulders still a bit tense but not as much as when the scanning was happening. Thomas quickly walked over towards them to make sure they were okay.

“You guys good?” He asked.

“We’re okie dokie,” Patton giggled nervously “just, uh, a bit frazzled.”

“I think I’m stuck to my chair.” Virgil admitted bashfully, his hands had been gripping the sides of the stool and Thomas could now see that he was physically trying to pull them off.

“Hey, hey, hey, you’re gunna hurt yourself,” Thomas cooed softly “just breath, in for four…hold for seven…out for eight. Good job, keep it up.”

Once he was able to calm Virgil down enough and get him unstuck, he looked to the others to make sure they were okay too. As Patton said earlier, he was a bit frazzled but ultimately okay, Roman was a bit jittery but seemed to be calming down as he followed Virgil’s breathing technique. Logan was just fine and was once again talking and asking a dozen questions about what just happened and how it worked and what did they find and etcetera, etcetera.

“Good news, your mutation is stable,” Joan announced and there was an obvious sigh of relief from both Thomas and the boys “we have found some interesting data though. This poor little spider has been spliced through hell and back. It’s practically a new species on it’s own, way different then the first generation that bit Thomas.”

“How so?” Logan asked, intrigued.

“Well, for one it has a few functions not typically normal for a spider,” Talyn said, looking through a few graphs on their tablet “it’s been extremely enhanced and mutated over and over again. Like if they were copying the same piece of paper again and again. It just all stacks up into this…it can barely be called a spider, I honestly don’t know what it is.”

“Well, it still looks like a creepy crawly spider to me.” Patton pouted.

“Looks are one thing, the function of it is another,” Joan said thoughtfully, pressing a few buttons and gesturing towards the containment unit the spider was in “watch this.”

The boys and Thomas looked towards the chamber and watched the spider scuttle around as the soft buzz of electricity filled its tank then it disappeared. Their eyes widened as they did a double take to make sure that really happened and the spider really wasn’t there anymore.

“Where’d it go?” Roman asked.

“It’s still there,” Joan said, typing once more and the tank was soon glossed over in Infrared light. There they saw the spider, still inside, scuttling around its tank as if nothing has changed. “Besides invisibility it seems to have other super abilities as well. We can’t for sure name all of them but I’ve got a few here listed out and ready for testing.”

“Sit back boys, Thomas move out of the way, please,” Talyn ordered gently “this’ll tingle a little.”

They typed something out on their tablet and the boys felt a slight tingle of electricity move throughout their bodies. It didn’t hurt and it didn’t last long so the boys were left confused as to what happened. Until they looked to Virgil.

“Virgil?” Logan called out, looking around the lab when he saw that his friend was no longer seated on the stool “Where’d you go?”

“I’m right here.” A disembodied voice said.

Patton screamed, jumping out of his chair and on to Roman’s lap, “There’s a ghost!”

“What?”

“V-Virgil, is that you?” Roman asked, holding Patton close.

“Yeah, what are you guys looking at?” The voice demanded.

“We aren’t looking at anything, we’re looking for you.” Logan said.

“But I’m right-” There was a sudden pause then a shriek of fear “I can’t see my-my hands or my feet or my anything!”

Thomas quickly turned to Joan and Talyn when he heard the panic rise in Virgil’s voice, “Whatever you did, stop it now!”

Talyn nodded, quickly typing on their tablet and another small tingle of electricity was sent out. Virgil reappeared slowly, arms hugging around his waist as he curled into himself and eyes squeezed shut. Thomas was by his side in an instant, gently coxing him back to reality, “Hey, its okay, you’re okay. Breath for me, please.”

Virgil took a breath and peeked out from one eye before looking down and sighing with relief when he was able to see himself again. He looked back up to Thomas with fearful eyes, “W-what was that?”

“I’m not sure,” Thomas admitted before looking over and firmly pining his two friends with a look “what did you guys do?”

They gave an apologetic smile as Joan leaped to explain what happened, “Well, we sent the same small electric pulse we used on the spider towards your brain to see if you would have the same effects. Obviously, it did and obviously we should have prepared you guys a bit more in advance. We’re sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s our bad.” Talyn added.

Thomas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Guys, we talked about this, please give substantial warning BEFORE the experiment happens. Not everyone is super geniuses like you two and know exactly what’s going to happen.”

“I take it this has happened before?” Logan stated, having now gotten up to be by Virgil’s side, a hand placed gently on his friends back rubbing soothing circles.

“Yeah,” Thomas admitted “but usually it’s with me on the receiving end. I’m used to it by now but of course you guys aren’t so…” He gave his friends a pointed look “warning next time.”

“Next time?” Virgil squeaked.

“Oh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Thomas assured quickly “we can do this another day. I know today has been really stressful for you boys already so I understand if you guys want to go home already and get some rest.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Virgil said quickly “really, just…you know, a little freaked out. Might as well get it over with now so we won’t have to worry about it later.”

“Are you sure?” Logan asked, his hand still remained in contact with Virgil’s back.

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Roman added “mental health is just as important as physical health you know.”

“Yeah kiddo, if it’s gunna be too much for you we rather just wait for a bit to cool down.” Patton said sweetly.

Virgil cheeks flushed a light pink, head ducking down so that his bangs cover his eyes, “I’m fine, really. Th-thanks for checking up though. But, like, what about you guys? How do you guys feel about all this…experimenting stuff?”

“Yeah, I want to make sure you boys are all comfortable with all of this,” Thomas said firmly “if anything crosses a line or you want to stop, tell us okay?”

“I’m good.” Roman nodded.

“I am as well.” Logan confirmed, sitting back down.

“Me too.” Patton chimed in as he climbed off of Roman’s lap.

“I’ll be fine.” Virgil murmured.

“Excellent,” Joan said excitingly turning back to the computer “the next set of tests will be of a similar fashion. We’ll send a wave of electronic pules to your brain’s nervous system and see if we can get a reaction.”

“Remember, if you guys get uncomfortable or need us to stop don’t be afraid to tell us, okay?” Talyn added.

With one last nod of confirmation Joan said, “Let us begin.”

\---

“Roman can you sing a note for me?” Talyn asked.

Roman gave her a look of confusion, “You want me to sing? I mean, not that I won’t do it but why?”

“With this test we seem to only be getting a reaction from your brain so I want to see if the ability we’ve unlocked is active,” Talyn explained “but make sure to face the wall over there, please.”

“Uh, okay,” Roman said, shifting in his seat towards the directed area “can I ask what ability this is?”

“Sonic sound waves,” Joan said casually “we all might want to take a step back just in case.”

Thomas and the other three stepped behind Roman who in turn rolled his eyes before focusing on the task at hand. All he had to do was sing a note, but like what note? How high? How loud? How would this even work? Roman sighed, shrugged, and decided to just riff Ariel’s theme.

“Ah, ah, ah! Ah, ah, ah!”

The room shook and shuttered like an earthquake. Everyone covered their ears from be beautiful yet ear piercingly loud tune that shook the entire building. The wall which Roman was facing when he sang had shook so violently there was a large crack that ripped down the middle of it.

Roman was quick to cover his mouth, eyes wide at the destruction he’s caused, “Oh dear…”

“Yeah, I think we should have that dormant for now until he learns how to control it.” Thomas suggested, trying to settle the ringing in his ear.

“We can’t exactly turn their powers on or off,” Joan explained “these are just electric pulses that activate their powers for them artificially. On their own we don’t know when these powers will pop up or how they’ll be able to activate them. It could take days, months, even years.”

“I just hope it doesn’t come out during the play this winter.” Roman moaned.

\---

“This one is simple,” Joan said as they walked over towards a light switch on a wall “it shows that each of you have some variation of night vision, though I’m not sure how strong it is. I’m gunna turn off the light and you guys tell me what you see, okay?”

Four nods of agreement were seen and Joan finally flipped the switch. Nothing happened, well, at least for Logan. He looked around confused, was the light switch broken? Everything still looked the same to him.

“What do you see?” Talyn asked, they stared straight ahead at nothing and Logan wondered why that was.

“You still haven’t turned off the light.” Logan stated obviously.

Joan, who was also looking into the nothingness, pulled a face of confusion before breaking out into a large grin, “Logan, we just switched them off.”

“No, you haven’t,” Logan argued “I mean you used the light switch but they’re still….on.” He looked up to the florescent lights above him that were now dark and it suddenly dawned on him “I have night vision…”

“I think I do too,” Virgil piped up, squinting around the room “but when you turned off the light everything just kind of got dim.”

“Yeah, me too.” Patton chimed in.

“It all turned black and white for me,” Roman said “like, I can see everything fine but it’s all just shades of gray.”

“Excellent,” Joan smiled, flicking the light switch back on “it seems like Logan has the better night vision out of everyone. Roman’s vision is probably more what the spider would see normally and Patton and Virgil’s are about the same as Thomas.”

“Why do you think that is?” Logan asked curiously “We all got bit by the same spider so you would assume we would all be the same ability wise.”

“You’re all different,” Talyn said obviously “if you were the same person then maybe you’d have similar reactions but depending on your DNA your bodies will react to the venom differently. Plus, you did theorize that with each victim the spider used more and more venom so that can also be an important factor.”

Logan nodded thoughtfully, “I guess so.”

\---

“We’re gunna do a quick test on just you Patton,” Talyn said as they tied a blindfold over Patton’s eyes “we’ve been picking up some strange brainwaves coming from you and we want to if we’re right.”

“Uh, okay,” Patton said tentatively, squirming in his seat “is it something bad?”

“No, no nothing bad,” Talyn assured “it’s just we’ve noticed that you seemed to be a very empathetic person and we want to see if that has been enhanced in anyway with your mutation.”

“Oh, well, what are we gunna do then?” Patton asked.

“Well, we’ve given everybody a note card of a certain feeling and they’re gunna try to emulate that feeling,” Joan explained as they passed out the note cards “your job is to guess what that feeling is.”

“How am I gunna do that?” Patton asked, head turning to try and track Joan’s voice.

“How ever you deem it necessary,” Joan said “I’ve known some people to sense thing through auras and given your ‘spidy sense’ that could be the case. But sometimes physical contact is needed to truly pick up what the other person is feeling.”

“Mmh, okay,” Patton said “but why the blindfold?”

“Eye contact and facial features can sometimes give away what a person’s feeling very easily,” Talyn chimed in “so this a ‘no cheating’ blindfold.”

“Oooh, sorry, I’m dumb.” Patton giggled.

“You are NOT dumb, Patton!” Roman said firmly, arms crossed stubbornly and glaring at his best friend even though Patton couldn’t see him.

Patton smiled passively, “Whatever you say, Ro.”

“I will punch you in the name of friendship!” Roman declared dramatically.

The group laughed at the two friends’ antics before quickly settling into silence as Joan lined them up in front of Patton with them going first. Patton fidgeted nervously as Joan stood in front him, he could tell someone was there but he just couldn’t read them properly. Shyly, Patton extended both his hands out, palms up, and Joan silently replied by carefully setting their own hands over his.

“I feel…curious,” Patton hummed “like, I have a lot of questions, well, they have a lot of question. I have questions too but that’s not me feeling question…wait can you feel question? Oh, it’s changing. They’re amused but also satisfied that they’re questions have been answered. Is that right?”

“Yes, it is.” Joan chuckled, letting go of Patton’s hands.

“Oh, Joan,” Patton said surprised “I didn’t know you’d be participating too. I don’t have to guess names, right? I don’t think I can do that.”

“No, just feelings.” They assured, stepping away and letting the next person go up.

Virgil carefully stepped up, looking down at his note card before stuffing it in his pocket. He just stood there a moment, staring down at Patton’s extended hands before carefully reaching out to grab them. Patton hummed curiously, soft warm hands squeezing Virgil’s gently.

“They’re kind of nervous,” Patton stated “they really don’t know what they should be doing right now. Aw, don’t be nervous, you’re doing great. Oh, they’re relaxing a little, that’s good. Glad I could lend a _hand_.”

Virgil snorted, Logan groaned in the background and everybody else chuckled. Patton giggled delightfully, “See, they think I’m funny! Did I do good?”

“Doing great Patton,” Joan assured “Next please.”

Virgil stepped out of the way for Thomas to move forward. The older man was hesitant at first but ultimately sighed, handing his note card off to Joan before grabbing hold of Patton’s hands. Immediately, Patton’s smiling face morphed into a melancholy frown, brow knitting together as if in immense pain.

“Oh they’re…i-it feels…sad,” Patton whimpered, voice cracked and watery “b-but it’s not a normal sad it’s like…like they lost someone precious to them.”

The others watch on with amazement and worry as tears began to stream down Patton’s face, “They’re in a lot of pain but…they also feel empty and cold. N-now they feel guilty, oh don’t feel guilty! I’m fine, really it’s just…can I give you a hug?”

Thomas looked down at Patton’s tear stained face, fear and guilt clawing at his chest for causing so much destress to such a sweet kid. Taking a breath to calm himself Thomas stepped forward and engulfed the teen in a big hug. Patton was quick to wrap his arms tightly around Thomas’s waist as if he was trying to physically mend all of Thomas is broken pieces back together. Warmth bloomed in Thomas’s chest at the sweet gesture and he couldn’t help but squeeze a little tighter and hold on a bit longer. The room was calm and quiet, no one wanting to disturb the gentle moment being had between the two.

“I know it’s hard but…I promise we’ll get through it eventually.” Patton murmured gently into his chest.

They final let go after a long while and Thomas sheepishly side stepped away while Patton wiped away the tears from under his blindfold. Roman was about to step forward but Talyn held him back to take his place, seeing that Roman’s note card also had an extreme emotion they figured Patton could use a bit of an emotional cool down. Gently, Talyn grabbed onto Patton’s hands, rubbing soothing circles over his fingers.

“They’re very clam,” Patton sniffed, taking in a breath then slowly letting it out “it’s gentle and nice, very soothing. Like, aloe being put over a burn mark…that’s weird analogy, I’m sorry.”

Talyn huffed out a laugh, “I think it’s suitable.”

“Oh, Talyn, you’re here too,” Patton smiled “did I get it right?”

“Mmh,” Talyn nodded before realizing Patton couldn’t see them “yeah, you did. We can stop now if you want, we have plenty of date.”

“No, I wanna finish,” Patton said determined “I’m fine to continue.”

“You sure?” Talyn asked carefully.

Patton nodded, “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay, next person.” Talyn stepped aside and let Roman take their place. Roman handed them his note card before firmly taking Patton’s hands in his. Patton pouted, his brow scrunched up in annoyance.

“I feel…angry,” Patton said “well, maybe not ‘angry’ angry but like…kind of annoyed, maybe a little more frustrated. Also, a tad bit worried. Geez, what’s got you so riled up?”

“Because my best friend thinks he’s dumb but he’s not and I love him very much!” Roman grumbled, stomping his foot childishly “Also you were crying earlier and I don’t like seeing you sad.”

“Aw, Ro-Ro,” Patton giggled, pulling Roman in for a hug “I love you too, sorry for making you worry.”

“It’s not your fault Peaches,” Roman murmured, burying his face into Patton’s hair “but to quote you: ‘if you keep talking bad about yourself, I will physically fight you!’”

The friends giggled, holding each other for a little while longer until Roman finally “forgave” Patton and moved out of the way for the last person. Logan fidgeted nervously, quite unlike his usual calm and cool self, frowning down at the note card in his hand, “Happy” it read. Logan was pretty sure that Virgil switched out their note cards if the smug face he had was anything to go by. He glared at his best friend before handing off the note card and stepping in front of Patton, who extended his hands readily.

Logan gulped nervously, no that was not the right emotion to be having right now. Happy, he had to be happy. Think happy thoughts…what kind of happy thoughts? His mother’s homed cooked Mansaf…his first telescope his brother got him on his 7th birthday…the first time his father took him to the aquarium and the jelly fish looked like stars…the time Virgil fell down the stairs…Logan huffed a small laugh on that last one.

Carefully, Logan lifted his hands and hovered them a few inches above Patton’s own. He gulped again, face red hot and all eyes (minus Patton’s) were on him, waiting. Why was he nervous? Why couldn’t he move? Why were his hands suddenly so sweaty? This was just an experiment, it was not big deal!

“Um, are you still there?” Patton asked, confused as to why it was taking so long.

“Give them a minute,” Joan said helpfully, but the knowing smirk on his and everybody else is face wasn’t helpful at all. At least not for Logan.

“Oh, okay, take your time.” Patton said soothingly, a soft smile painting his face. Patton always had a nice smile, it made everything feel lighter. Logan was quick to stop that train of thought and immediately dropped his hands onto Patton’s.

Patton hummed quietly, his hands were soft and warm, short and fat compared to Logan’s cold, clammy, spindly fingers. They were so different and yet they felt completely natural together. It was a completely absurd and illogical thought to say the least but it was a common thought process Logan had whenever he was around the bright sunshine of a human being known as Patton Foster.

Patton smiled, a pretty blush spreading across his cheeks, “It’s really warm and fluttery.”

 _‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’_ Logan thought to himself _‘Abort mission! Abort mission!’_

But he was frozen in place as Patton continued to explain, “Like a thousand butterflies in my stomach but I also want to throw up at the same time. Not in a bad way though. They’re a bit nervous too but also kind of excited. They’re in love!”

Logan choked on his own spit and he heard Virgil and Roman in the background quietly snickering to themselves. He threw them a glare to shut up before turning back to remove his hands but found that Patton still held them firmly in his own. Turns out he wasn’t done yet.

“They’re embarrassed now,” He said tentatively “was I not supposed to say that? Sorry, I got excited. You’re love is a very nice feeling and whoever that lucky person is to receive it I hope they know how wonderfully blessed they are.”

Logan was pretty sure his face was on fire now, he’s surprised that the smoke alarm hadn’t started beeping. Or maybe it has but he just couldn’t hear it over the beating of his own heart in his ears and Roman and Virgil’s annoying laughter. Logan cleared his throat, shaking his thoughts out of his head before carefully removing his hands from Patton’s gentle hold and rejoining the group.

“Did I get it right?” Patton asked.

“Uh, it wasn’t what was written on the note card but I think you still got it right,” Joan chuckled as they went to remove Patton’s blindfold as well as the suction cups on his head and neck “I think that’s enough testing for today. It’s getting late and you kids should probably start getting home.”

“Should we come back tomorrow?” Patton asked, blinking his eyes to adjust to the light.

“Only if you want to,” Thomas butted in before either Joan or Talyn could answer “and only if you guys are not busy. Remember, you still have school and a life to attend to.”

“Don’t remind me,” Roman whined “I still gotta finish my homework when I get home.”

“That’s ironic since we told our parents we were in a study group.” Logan said.

“What time is it anyway?” Virgil asked, stretching out his arms.

Talyn looked down at their watch, “’Bout to be eight thirty.”

“Eight thirty!” The boys exclaimed, panic rising in their eyes as they scrambled to pack their things.

“Aw, man my mom’s gunna kill for missing dinner!” Patton shrieked.

“You’re mom? Have you met my mom?” Roman voice cracked “She still thinks I’m sick and wanted me to stay home!”

“Thanks for everything Mr. Sanders, uh, we’ll come by tomorrow if we aren’t grounded.” Virgil said in a rush as they all raced up stairs.

“Pleasure meeting all of you!” Logan called out as he dashed out the basement door with his friends. The door slammed shut and there was a rumble of feet running across the hall before they heard the front door open and slam shut too.

“Nice kids.” Joan said after a moment of silence.

“Don’t get too attached to them,” Thomas warned as he walked over to the containment unit where the little spider was still scuttling around in “this all has to be taken seriously and professionally. These kids have no idea what going on to them or what they’ve just gotten themselves into so we have to there to guide them.”

“Mmh, are you telling us that or yourself?” Talyn smirked.

Thomas sputtered uselessly, “I-I…wh-what are you talking about?”

“Don’t think we don’t see how you interact with those kids,” Talyn chuckled “all maternal and such.”

“I’m not – it’s not…I don’t do that…” Thomas said meekly, but even he was starting to doubt that “I mean, they’re just kids and I know what it’s like going through what they’re going through. God knows I would have liked a bit of guidance. And they’re also younger then what I was when I first got my powers, we have to keep a careful eye on them.”

“I have a theory,” Joan announced dramatically “that by the end of the week they’ll have you wrapped around their little fingers.”

“Yeah right,” Thomas grumbled “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not really ‘hip’ with the kids.”

“You’re right, I should give you the benefit of the doubt,” Joan said solemnly “one and a half weeks it is.”

Talyn and Joan laughed while Thomas groaned but it wasn’t because he was frustrated but because he knew Joan was probably right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and kudos!


	4. Eye of the Spider!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Thomas can even think about training the boys he has to set up a parent teacher conference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for those of you that don’t know your main bitch here got a job so that’s why this update took so long. I’ve been searching for a job for weeks and I finally was able to get one so now I can bring me in some cash money so that I can live as a functioning human being in society. Anyways, once more, this fic wouldn’t be possible without the beautiful brains of sugarglider9603 and ask-spiderverse-virgil on Tumblr who ignited flame into this au. So without further ado please ENJOY!!!

After they quickly exchanged numbers with each other the boys hurriedly made way back home. To their surprise they made it back quicker then they anticipated before remembering that oh yeah, they had spider powers. But even then, their parents were less then thrilled to find that their children came home late. Thankfully, they all made sure to get their story straight (ha) before they got home.

“Where have you been, Logan?” Mrs. Quinn fretted “You said you’d be home an hour ago?”

“Sorry Ummi, we got, uh, carried away,” Logan fibbed “lot of notes to go through and a lot of things to be discussed.”

“You still could have called us to say you were coming home late,” Mr. Quinn said sternly “you know how we worry about you being out late at night by yourself.”

\---

“But I wasn’t by myself,” Roman said as he helped his mother with the dishes “Patton was there and so were Logan and Virgil.”

“Sí mijo, pero no los conozco,” Mrs. Marigold explained angrily “a Patton sí, pero los otro dos no sé cómo están. Y luego están caminando ya muy tarde, esta peligroso.”

“We’re fine Amá, really,” Roman assured “there’s four of us and me and Patton can handle ourselves just fine.”

 _‘Especially now,’_ Roman added in his head.

\---

“That’s not the point, paloma,” Mr. Foster sighed “you said you were going to be home at a certain time and we expected you to be here at a certain time. If not, you should have at least called us.”

“Especially since you’re still sick, Tesoro,” Mrs. Foster added “what if you or Roman had another fainting spell?”

Patton frowned guiltily, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, he had to lie again and he hated it. “I’m fine now Mamma, I promise. We just lost track of time is all, we wanted to get the project done as quick as possible so we won’t be stuck on it for too long. Then we just started talking and stuff.”

\---

“What in the world were you talking about that took so long?” Mrs. Storm asked, she was worried and a bit angry but she never once raised her voice. Virgil always appreciated that about his parents, always trying to understand and work with his anxiety but never coddling him like he was made of glass.

Even so, Virgil was still really anxious and ended up blurting out, “Club au! I mean, we’re clubbing – I mean, we were discussing a club!”

Mr. Storm gave his son a curious look, “What sort of club were you discussing?”

Virgil tugged at the ends of his beanie, “Uh, um…a c-club of…gay – I-I mean, uh, L…LGBTQ+ club.”

\---

Mr. and Mrs. Quinn gave their son a wide-eyed look, remaining silent for a long while. I wasn’t that they didn’t know Logan was gay, on the contrary despite being emotionally closed off most of the times Logan made it very clear near the end of his middle school year that he was definitely not interested in girls. His parents also made it very clear that it would be hard for a person like him out in the world but that they supported him either way, they just needed a bit of time to catch up. The old beliefs were still ingrained into them but they loved their children way too much to let something like that break them apart.

But that wasn’t the thing that shocked them, it was the fact that it seemed like their son had been keeping this club a secret. As if he was still too afraid to open up and tell them what he’s been doing and how he’s found other people like them. They didn’t mind Logan keeping his privacy because that’s just the type of person Logan was but privacy was one thing, hiding was another. And Mr. and Mrs. Quinn didn’t want their son to feel the need to hide from them because of who he was.

“Really?” Mr. Quinn finally said, scolding himself for not being able to say more.

“Yes,” Logan said, squirming under his parents’ gaze “Virgil and I had been throwing the idea around for a while but we didn’t really think there’d be anyone else but us, that is, until we met Patton and Roman. The school regulates that there should at least be four people per club so, then we decided to look up some sponsors.”

\---

“Encontraste a alguien?” Mrs. Marigold asked, her voice now soft and less frustrated then it had been earlier.

This was a very important topic for her son, she knew him and Patton didn’t just stay friends out of convenience but to also at least have one person who understood them on **that** level. The community they lived in was very religious oriented, a lot of hard-core Catholics in the Latino and Italian community who were still too stuck inside their own asses. They couldn’t see beyond what was told to them and Lupita knew that it’s caused her son a lot of pain and isolation.

Roman was a loud and flamboyant person and to most people in their community that was something strange for a man. But Lupita would be damned if anyone made her baby feel ashamed of who he is, Roman may be dramatic at times but he was a sweet boy and deserved nothing but happiness.

“Yes, actually,” Roman said, a slight look of relief in his eyes that caused Mrs. Marigold’s heart to clench painfully “two of them are part time professors at a nearby college that teach gender studies and engineering, the main other is, uh…LGBT activist on social media.”

\---

“A what?” Mr. Foster asked, he was all for letting his son express himself in whatever outlet he wished but he just wanted to make sure he was safe before letting him hang around with a stranger. Patton was much to caring and innocent sometimes and the wrong people could take advantage of that. Mr. Foster would never forgive himself if anything happened to his little paloma, he could not lose another son.

“He talks about things and stuff relating to the LGBTQ+ community online, mainly on YouTube,” Patton explained “he also does a lot of charity work for a lot of other organization. His name is Thomas, he’s really nice. A-and, he also gave me his number for you guys to call him if you have any questions or if you want to meet up and talk in person. Here, I’ll send it to you.”

Patton took out his cell phone and typed out a quick text to his parents. After a quick minute there were two soft pings from Mr. and Mrs. Foster’s phone. They checked to see if the number had the same area code as they did, before turning back to their son who kept fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously. They really should give their son a bit more credit, innocence does not necessarily mean ignorance and Patton has been known to be a good judge of character. Plus, they knew how hard it was for their son to find friends that could relate to him at such a…personal level.

\---

“Are you sure about this?” Mrs. Storm asked worriedly “We know how difficult it was for you to get into a club the first time, and that’s only because you started ballet very young.”

Virgil frowned, chewing his bottom lip, “Do you…not want me to?”

“Oh, no, no, no, I never said that,” Mrs. Storm assured quickly “I just…want to make sure you’re comfortable doing this. I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing things you don’t want to or joining clubs you feel like your obligated to join just because your…you. You know?”

Mr. and Mrs. Storm did not want to discourage their son from trying new things but Virgil had always been a very nervous boy. Very cautious and always double checking everything, him spontaneously wanting to join a club just for the hell of it was very surprising to them. He always made sure to discuss thing with them before he made any final decisions, just to be extra sure. Virgil wanting to do something new and meet new people was a good thing but also made them worry a bit.

Still, if it made their son happy…

“We’ll call him in the morning.” Mr. Storm smiled.

\---

“Really, you’re fine with this?” Logan asked, a shy smile spread across his face.

“Of course, we are,” Mrs. Quinn said “we just want to make sure you’re safe is all.”

“And we’ll want to meet those other two boys too, as well as their parents,” Mr. Quinn said firmly “just to give us peace of mind. Is that alright?”

Logan nodded, a somewhat excited glimmer in his eyes, something his parents haven’t seen in a long time, it was good to see it hadn’t completely vanished. “I’m sure if you call Mr. Sanders up he’ll be able to schedule a meeting with all of you. I’m not sure about meeting the other yet, since we still have school and won’t be free until the weekend, but I’m sure that can be arranged sometime soon if not in the near future.”

“Good,” Mrs. Quinn smiled, she paused a moment before speaking carefully “and Logan, you know you can…talk to us about all this, right?”

\---

“Of course,” Roman assured, a gentle smile on his face as he took his mother’s hands into his own “Amá, I’m always gunna trust you with these types of things. This was just…a spontaneous occurrence that just sort of happened. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you or was afraid it’s just that we got a bit distracted, that’s all. I’m sorry I worried you.”

“Está bien, mi amor, sé lo emocionado que estás por estas cosas,” Mrs. Marigold cooed, lifting a hand to gently stroke her son’s face “solo sé que te quiero mucho, por siempre y por siempre, sin importar quién eres en tu vida.”

“I know Amá,” Roman hummed, leaning into his mother’s touch “I love you too.”

\---

“We just want to make sure you know that this is your home and your safe to be yourself,” Mrs. Foster explained, her husband nodding in agreement “we don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t come to us about these things, Tesoro.”

“I know that,” Patton said, rubbing his eyes to rid himself of the tears he knew were threatening to come out “it’s just…this is a bit, you know, out there and I know that people talk.”

Mr. and Mrs. Foster looked at their son worriedly as he continued, “I hear what people say around here and in church, I didn’t want to give them more ammo to throw at you without…making sure.”

\---

“What they say does not matter to us,” Mr. Storm said firmly “what does matter to us is that you’re safe and happy. You can not help who you are and who you love, that’s just the way the world work.”

Virgil gave a shy smile, curling into himself a bit more as if to trap that warm fuzzy feeling that was spreading across his chest. His parents smiled back and his father stepped forward to gently ruffle the top of his beanie covered head. “Just know that you are our son and that we’re always going to be proud of you.”

Virgil chuckled wetly, adjusting his beanie as he playfully shooed his dad’s hand away, “Yeah, thanks.”

“Now I know you still might be sick,” His mother began, stepping into the kitchen “but I made you some stew just in case you’re hungry. I would have reheated you some porridge but it seems we don’t have anymore, which is strange. I could have sworn there was still some left over from this morning.”

“Um, yeah,” Virgil chuckled nervously “stew sounds great, I’m actually starving.”

\---

 **PattyCake:** guys i feel really bad for lying to my parents :’(

 **Logan Q.:** It can’t be helped Patton, you know what Mr. Sanders said.

 **PattyCake:** i know but i still feel bad :’’’(

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** i know Peaches but its not a bad thing its to protect them

 **Spoopy:** im with patton on this one after a very awkward conversation and eating dinner the adrenalin finally wore out and now i wanna puke

 **Logan Q.:** Just keep breathing Virgil, you’ll be fine. Or would you like me to come up?

 **Spoopy:** give me a minute i’ll see how i feel later. i’m still trying to process everything!

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** i know its crazy! I’m kind of shaking right now ngl -_-“

 **PattyCake:** R U OK?!?! DO YOU NEED ME TO COME UP?!?!

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** No no just processing like Count Woe-laf over here

 **Logan Q.:** Make sure to take deep breaths and drink plenty of water. Our bodies are still quite in shock from the mutation as well as the emotional turmoil we’ve had today. We have to make sure to get the optimal amount of rest tonight.

 **Spoopy:** why do i feel like that was targeted at me? -_-

 **Logan Q.:** Because it was. Also, my parents would like to arrange a meeting with Mr. Sanders and all of your parents, if that’s okay? They would also like to meet Patton and Roman as well but I’ve persuaded them to postpone that meeting until a later date, stating that we are all to busy with school this week.

 **PattyCake:** -_-“ thanks Lo i dont think i can lie to anybody else right now

 **Logan Q.:** It’s no problem Patton, whenever you and Roman are ready to meet them I’ll let them be informed.

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** thanks specs

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** also my mom would also like to meet thomas and ur parents

 **Spoopy:** same

 **PattyCake:** shouldnt we be telling this to mr. sanders?

\---

Thomas was out on patrol again, watching the last glimmers of sunlight sink down across the city skyline on top of the tallest building. He thanked his lucky stars everyday for Joan and Talyn and their genius advances they’ve made on his suit, such as thermal heating. If it hadn’t been for them the strong autumn wind whipping around him would have caused him freeze to death by now. Several tiny pings vibrating against the pocket of his suit brought Thomas out of his thoughts.

 _‘That’s strange,’_ Thomas thought to himself as he fished out his phone _‘Joan and Talyn don’t usually text me until later or unless it’s an emergency.’_

To his surprise it was not Joan or Talyn but the kids from earlier today.

 **PattyCake:** Hello! <333 OwO

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** Hi Mr. Sanders!!! :3

 **Logan Q.:** Mr. Sanders, we would like to ask you something.

 **Spoopy:** yo sanders you there?

Thomas chuckled to himself, he could already tell who was who without even looking at the usernames. Also, he really needed them to stop calling him Mr. Sanders, it made him feel older then he actually is.

 **CouldBeGayer:** u know u guys can just call me Thomas right?

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** AKALFJ;HELFHENV UR USERNAME!!! IM WHEEXZJING!!!

 **Logan Q.:** Mr. Sanders, our parents are going to call you tomorrow to schedule a meeting with you. My parents were wondering if you would not be opposed to meeting with everyone at the same time? Seeing as they would like to meet Roman and Patton’s parents as well this would be most optimal.

 **Logan Q.:** Sorry, the message was already sending.

 **CouldBeGayer:** its alright bud

Thomas thought a moment, he had expected this to happen. They had discussed this while Joan and Talyn were experimenting on them, that it would be mighty suspicious for them to disappear for hours on ends after school. Thomas was the king of making up excuses when he was younger so he hadn’t needed to worry and his parents trusted him enough to not get into any trouble. Which was a lie yes but he didn’t want these kids to lie to their parents more than they already are so they devised a plan. They’d invent an “after school club” with Thomas, Joan, and Talyn as their sponsor, Thomas being the main one that’ll mentor them. Thing is the boys left before they could discuss how they were going to explain why two scientists funded by the government and a YouTuber were asked to be sponsors for a high school LGBTQ+ club.

 **CouldBeGayer:** So whats the sitch?

 **Spoopy:** joan and talyn are part time engineering and gender studies professors at a near by university and ur an lgbt activist on social media

 **CouldBeGayer:** interesting way of putting it

 **PattyCake:** no offence but idk if i could explain what a youtuber is to my parents -_- they barely know how to use their phones

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** Same!!!

 **Spoopy:** same -_-

 **Logan Q.:** I second that statement.

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** holy shit what r u a computer?

 **Spoopy:** I have a few theories

 **Logan Q.:** Honestly, Virgil you know I am human.

 **Spoopy:** DO I REALLY OR IS THAT JUST WHAT U WANT ME TO THINK?!?!

 **CouldBeGayer:** im with them on this one im gunna need to see a birth certificate

 **PattyCake:** I believe u Lo :)

 **Logan Q.:** Thank you, Patton.

 **Prince-Of-Ur-Dreams:** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 **Spoopy:** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 **CouldBeGayer:** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 **Logan Q.:** Stop it.

 **PattyCake:** (⊃д⊂)

\---

There were several phone calls made the following day to arrange a meeting later that afternoon at a nearby coffee shop that Thomas recommended. The boys’ parents sounded nice enough over the phone but there was still that careful edge in each of their voices that let Thomas know that these were **very** protective parents willing to talk to him about mentoring their precious children. In some ways that made Thomas felt kind of guilty about having to lie to them because he was literally going to train said precious children so that they can control their mutant spider powers and possibly send them out to fight dangerous street criminals.

So, Thomas made sure to put in extra effort for today, which isn’t something he isn’t prone to doing unless it’s a life or death situation. He got up early, showered, shaved, put on clean semi-presentable clothes, ate a good breakfast and practiced what he wanted to say to these kids is parents.

“We’ll talk more about the community as a whole and hopefully be able to educate others about it, which is really the most important thing. Spreading awareness and helping normalize the LGBTQ+ youth…” Thomas had been pacing back and forth in his living room notepad in hand, scribbling down thoughts and ideas as well as crossing them out.

He bit down on his thumb nail nervously, “Is that too much? Is it too dramatic?”

“I think it’s fine,” Joan said coolly. Them and Talyn had been sitting on the couch as Thomas is willing audience, occasionally giving him criticism and assuring him that everything will be alright.

“Are you sure?” Thomas asked them, flipping over to a different page of his notepad “I mean, I want to give them all the information they need but not overwhelm them with so much but also not skim over important details.”

“Thomas,” Talyn called to him, a gentle smile aimed his way “you’re gunna be fine. It’s obvious how much effort you put into this to make sure everybody’s comfortable and the boys’ parents will see that too.”

“And if they don’t?” Thomas moaned tiredly, scrubbing over his face “What if they see right through me and know I’m lying? Because I am! I’m not sponsoring an LGBTQ+ youth club I’m going to train their secretly super mutated kids to fight dangerous criminals that could potentially kill them!”

“Whoa, hold up a minute there, buddy,” Joan said gently, firmly grabbing onto their friend’s shoulders “breath…it’s going to be fine. Remember, you’re helping these kids get through a terrifying phase in their lives. You’re doing this because you don’t want them to be alone like you were and it’s better for them to train under your watchful eye then have them running amuck by themselves, not knowing what to do.”

Thomas took a careful breath, steading his mind with Joan’s soothing words of wisdom, “You’re right, you’re right…I’ve got this! I totally got this…right?”

“We’re right here with you just in case you don’t,” Talyn joked, but the sincerity in their eyes told Thomas they meant it and then some.

He cracked a small smile, “Thanks guys.”

\---

Thomas thought he was so cleaver come twenty minutes early so he can save everybody a seat, show how responsible he is. Turns out the parents had the same idea and that just kind of knocked down the hours of hyping up Joan and Talyn did for him. He could already tell who was whose parent just by their demeanor and faces alone.

Logan’s parents seemed to give off that same professional, all business vibe on the surface but if you peeked underneath, you’d see that they cared very deeply for their son and his well-being. His mother seemed to have that strong, fiery determination in her eyes while his father was an unmoving wall that help ground her. Patton’s parents wore their emotions on their sleeves just like their son, they looked worried and fearful but there was a warm sweetness to them that reminded Thomas all too much of Patton’s hugs. Patton definitely inherited his mother’s large expressive eyes as well as his father’s deep-set frown, which Thomas was certain that if he smiled it be exactly like his son’s, bright and warm. Roman’s mother was jittery with a nervous energy that just seemed to radiate off of her, just like her son she couldn’t seem to sit completely still as was evident by her tapping foot. But even quiet and mostly sitting still she seemed to fill up the entire room with a flare that was just so Roman. Virgil’s parents seemed a bit reclusive compared to the rest, sticking close to Logan’s parents and mostly observing the events unfolding before them. Virgil’s mother seemed to be the quietest of the two but that didn’t mean she didn’t have anything to say, his father seemed to be the one to pull her from her thoughts, always careful and never too fast.

Thomas swallowed thickly, taking a deep breath in before finally entering the coffee shop and making his way towards them. Roman’s mother was the first to stand, closely followed by Logan’s parents, Thomas almost laughed at how similar they were compared to their sons. She stuck out her hand to greet Thomas giving him a firm hand shake.

“Hello, my names Guadalupe Marigold, you can call me Lupita, I’m Roman’s mom.” Her accent was thick like honey causing her to stick and trip over her words but it was still sweet to listen too.

“Maryam and Akeem Quinn,” Logan’s mother introduced, a hand on her chest and a gentle half bow towards Thomas which was returned “We’re Logan’s parents.”

“Nice to meet you.” Logan’s father, Akeem, added, going to shake Thomas’s hand.

“Nice to meet you too.” Thomas said lamely, shaking back.

As they sat back Patton’s parents stood up, Patton’s father going to greet him first, “Giovanni Foster, this is my wife Maria, we’re Patton’s parents.”

“How do you do?” Thomas smiled nervously, shaking both their hands only to then be pulled in close by Mrs. Foster who kissed both his cheeks.

“My Tesoro speaks very highly of you,” She smiled warmly, seating herself back with her husband “I hope all is true.”

Finally, with much shyness and caution, Virgil’s parents slowly stand to say hello. First is his mother, who shakes Thomas’s hand with a small bow and simply said, “Thi Storm.”

“Gus Storm,” Mr. Storm chimed in “we’re Virgil’s parents, good to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.” Thomas nodded taking his seat across from them.

It was awkwardly silent for a long time, either looking off into the distance or fiddling with their coffees and desserts they ordered. Where do you start? Who starts? What do you say? What even was this?

“So…your gay?” Gus asked and he seemed painfully aware how stupid and rude that question sounded. His wife did too apparently, if the death glare she was giving him was any indication of how she felt.

“What the hell, Gus?” Thi murmured under her breath, rubbing over her eyes.

“I panicked, nobody was talking.” Gus explained nervously.

Thomas wondered if this was how Virgil’s thought process was like when he was struggling to socialize with others. Still, Thomas smiled gently, letting it show he wasn’t offended by the question, “Yes, I am. Any other questions? Feel free to ask anything you like, nothing is off limits. I want there to be an open communication between all of us and to let you guys know that your sons are in good hands.”

“What exactly is it you do for a living?” Maryam asked, the ice finally starting to brake around them.

Thomas wanted to be as truthful as possible so after a moment of thought (though not so long it was suspicious) he said, “I’m an entertainer on YouTube mainly, I do talk a lot about LGBTQ+ topic and have spoken at several schools about the topic. Your boys actually go to my old high school and I just…wanted them to have a better experience then I did when I went there.”

“How so?” Giovanni asked curiously.

Thomas sighed, geez where does he even begin with this? Obviously, he couldn’t tell them everything that happened but he could give them a vague outline of what he went through. Technically it wasn’t lying, right?

“Well, I mean it was a lot worse back when I was a kid then now,” Thomas explained carefully “I mean, we were barely starting to come out of the woodworks but even then, we had to be careful about it. My folks and brothers were fine with it but they still wanted me to keep it hidden from everyone else, not because they were ashamed of me but because this is Manhattan and the people aren’t that nice and can sometimes be kind of dangerous. Especially, with…‘my kind’ of people.

“So, I kept to myself a lot, smiled when I had too, and just kind of developed this sort of…fake version of myself that society deemed acceptable,” Thomas continued “I didn’t want to worry my parents so I avoided telling them anything and my friends at the time didn’t know anything about me outside of school. It didn’t really help that there were a lot of…other things pilling up on me but through it all I at least had one supporter.”

It got quiet again and Thomas had gotten this far away look in his eyes. He seemed vaguely fawned of the memory but also in deep pain, so much so that Maria reached across the table to squeeze his hand. That finally got Thomas to snap out of his trance, clearing his throat with a nervous smile as he awkwardly retreated his hand on to his lap.

“S-sorry, kind of,” He made a vague gesture with his hand “spaced out there for a sec, a-anyway, the point being I don’t want these boys to feel like they’re alone in this, nor anybody else for that matter. If people can see that there is a strong support system, they can trust it’ll probably compel more students to come out and talk to us. LGBTQ+ youth has the highest grossing rate in anxiety, depression, bullying, harassment, and, unfortunately, suicide, and these are just kids!”

That seem to get to them, at least they weren’t paying attention to his weird space out anymore, but they looked semi disturbed which isn’t any better. They seemed to be mauling over these facts anxiously which Thomas couldn’t tell was a good thing or a bad thing. Like, Thomas didn’t want to guilt trip these parents into letting their children join a **fake** LGBTQ+ club but god only knows the chaos these boys could cause with their powers if left unsupervised.

Thi cleared her throat to speak, “Virgil has always been a very…anxious kid. Teacher would always tell us how they were worried because he was very underdeveloped in the social aspect of things. Thankfully he met Logan which kind of eased our worries but still made us anxious as to wonder how Virgil would handle things without Logan as a social buffer. It takes a lot for him to make friends with people and even then, he still kind of hides into himself. But then…”

She turned to Thomas, giving him a strange yet intense look, so much so that Thomas kind of shrank back a bit, “All of a sudden he comes home talking about wanting to **make** a club with Logan and two other boys he made **friends** with. Two boys that he has described as loud, eccentric, and a bit intense, all things Virgil actively avoids on a day to day bases. He’s out late, talking with people and losing track of time, coming home excited talking a mile a minute about the club he wants to make with his friends…” Thi’s eyes soften, brimming with tears as a small smile spreading across her face “…it’s the happiest I’ve seen him ever since…”

“Since…?” Thomas asked worriedly.

Gus placed an arm around his wife’s shoulders bringing her close to his side, “Last year, Virgil’s grandfather died and he…didn’t take it very well. It got so bad that he was mute for a couple months, something that manifested over the years due to his anxiety but due to the trauma of losing his grandfather it was worse. Not that his death was violent or traumatic, rather peaceful actually, but Virgil and his grandfather were very close.”

“I get it,” Thomas said, a deep understanding in his eyes that threw off Virgil’s parents for a bit before realization kicked in. They didn’t need to ask because Thomas told them anyway, “My aunt Patty was my biggest support when I was younger and after she…past I decided to kick my ass into gear and do something with myself instead of moping around. It’s what she would have wanted.”

“My sister, Perri, was Logan’s favorite aunt,” Akeem smiled sadly, his wife gently rubbing his back “he admired her so much and she absolutely adored him. When she was…” A pause, a look of pain and anger flashed across Akeem’s eyes before he centered himself once more with a deep breath “…when she passed became much more closed off with his emotions then ever before. We didn’t know what he was feeling half the time. But then the other day he comes in and…he’s just so full of life and excitement. It’s as if I’m finally seeing my son again.”

“Roman’s father was his hero,” Lupita sniffed, a watery chuckle escaping her lips “he wanted to be just like him when he grew up because ‘papi was so brave and amazing because he helped build skyscrapers and he never was afraid of falling down…’” She wiped the tears running down her cheek with the cuff of her sleeve “And when he did it was as if his whole little world came crashing down on him. He realized his hero wasn’t invincible and the thought of that made him feel so lost. Then yesterday he comes back home and it’s as if…he’s found his purpose again. As if he’s been found by it.”

“Patton was our second youngest,” Maria explained mournfully, her husband holding her hand tight “we had a little boy named Frankie…Patton loved him so much, he loved being an older brother. He was always so caring and attentive and Frankie loved him just as fiercely, they were always together. Then Frankie got sick…Patton never got to say goodbye.”

“He feels guilty about it, we know,” Giovanni continued when his wife no longer could “but he’s always tried to make the people around him happy first so he always put on a cheery disposition. Our little paloma has been known to wear his heart on his sleeves but sometimes it feels like he hides things for our sake. It was the same thing yesterday but…different somehow. As if we were getting a glimpse into his struggling mind but it was also starting to put itself back together again. It’ll take time, we know, but whatever you’re doing for these boys…please continue.”

Thomas is eyes were open wide in shock, he understood everything now, not completely but he finally got why these kids were the way they were. When you lose someone important you lose a part of yourself, you spend almost all your life looking for it again and once you find something similar to fill that void you latch onto it. For Thomas it was becoming someone better then what he saw in himself because that’s what his Aunt Patty would have wanted. From what he could gather these kids wanted some sort of control over their lives, stability, a purpose, understanding. That’s why they latched on so quickly with each other because finally someone was going through the same thing as they were and for once they wouldn’t be alone to deal with it.

The whole thing was painfully familiar to Thomas and he knew he was slowly starting to get attached to these kids more and more even if it’s only been two days. Do these fucking spiders only target people who’ve tragically lost someone close to them? Was that like a growing trend amongst the mutant spider community? Hey, here’s an emotionally unstable teenager who’s bound to lose someone in life let’s fuck up their lives even more!

“I promise,” Thomas said unintentionally, though he couldn’t stop now “I’ll keep them safe and help get them ready for the world ahead. I’ll keep you posted on everything we do and…I’ll make sure they’re never alone.”

 _‘Never again,’_ Thomas added in his head _‘and I don’t care if I regret this.’_

\---

 **CouldBeGayer:** Ur training starts tomorrow after noon

\---

They were on the roof of an abandoned building; Thomas having changed into his Rainbow Weaver gear while the boys wore sweats and a bootleg Rainbow Weaver mask. They stood side by side in a line as Thomas slowly paced back and forth like an ever observant general in the army.

“This training will NOT be easy,” Thomas said sternly “if you want to be heroes you have to understand that your lives will not be the only ones on the line. You will be blamed for every little thing that goes wrong, nobody cares if it’s an accident. According to the news and in the eyes of the public: Super heroes **don’t** make mistakes. So, pay attention. Any questions?”

Logan raised his hand, “Why are we wearing masks?”

“A few reasons,” Thomas said coolly “mainly just incase people see us they won’t know your identities, I don’t want people to know we’re associated with each other and exploit it as a weakness. Also…I thought you guys would look hilarious in these and I was right. Moving on, let’s get down to business-”

“To defeat the Hun!” The boys sang.

“Guys, this is serious,” Thomas chuckled, quickly composing himself “do any of you know basic gymnastics?”

It was silent for a moment, the boys awkwardly shuffling their feet until Virgil slowly raised his hand and asked, “Does ballet count?”

“Yes, it does actually,” Thomas sighed, rubbing the back of his neck “even so I’m still gunna have to teach you a few things. As for the rest of you…let’s stretch out first then start at square one.”

\---

“This is called a bridge pose,” Thomas said casually, having practically bent backwards into a perfect arch on his hands and feet “now that you have powers, you’re not only stronger but are now a bit more flexible. But even with that we still got to stretch those muscles out so that they can become accustomed. Start from the ground up, slowly. If you need help ask.”

Virgil had the easiest time getting into bridge pose, since he was already the most flexible, the other three needed a bit of help. It was a bit of a struggle but soon Thomas was able to get all four of them into perfect bridge pose.

“N-now what?” Roman huffed, straining to keep up straight.

“Now you stay there for as long as you can.” Thomas said simply.

“Fuck!” Vigil groaned, the sound of a man who’s done this before and was not happy to be doing it again.

“Is this really necessary?” Logan grunted, shifting his weight from one hand to the other.

“You wanted to be super heroes and spider ones at that,” Thomas said haughtily, crossing his arms “you think I learned all those tricks and flips out of thin air? You have any idea how many muscles I pulled because I had no idea what I was doing? I have back problems now guys, I’m barely thirty!”

“No, offence Mr. Thomas sir,” Patton panted “but how is this supposed to help us **not** have back problems?”

“Like I said, we stretch out the muscles and get them use to the strain,” Thomas repeated “isn’t that right Virgil?”

“Yeah, something like that,” you could practically hear the pout on the emo boys face “doesn’t mean it still isn’t a pain in the ass.”

“D-don’t you mean pain in the back?” Patton giggled as Logan groaned loudly in the background but you could definitely tell he was smiling underneath the mask.

Roman was the first to fall, he had a solid build of muscle due to helping out the stage crew lift heavy props but it made his body a bit to stiff. Logan was next, his body was lanky and bendable enough but he lacked any sort of muscle to help him stay up right. Virgil was next leaving Patton as the last man standing which surprised everyone, including Patton.

“Well done Patton,” Thomas praised “I think we can move on to some other poses now.”

“Thanks,” Patton huffed, wiggling around a bit before he suddenly stopped and began to chew on the inside of his cheek nervously “um…I think I’m stuck…help.”

“Shit.” Thomas quickly rushed over to help him.

\---

Thomas stood in the middle of a line of webbing he had stuck the ends off to two buildings as well as having a net like web below it. “Next, we’re gunna work on your balance, just walk back and forth across the line a few times to get a feel for it. The building isn’t that high, about three stories, but I’ve still put a net underneath just in case. So, don’t worry if you slip, you’ll be fine, the webbing we have is extremely strong.”

The boys stood in a line on the building to the right looking across towards Thomas, who casually walked across the thin web to the opposite building, before looking down towards the net that covered the drop below. They gulped, shuffling around to see where they should start from until finally Logan bravely stepped up first. He stuck his hands out to his sides before taking a tentative step forward, scooting his way across until he was about a foot out. After taking a few deep breaths Logan finally decides to take a normal step forward, then another and another and soon he was walking across with ease.

Not one to be out shined Roman confidently went next, his pace much faster as he quickly caught up with Logan’s careful trot. Patton was next, going much slower then his friend, with Virgil clinging on to the back of his shirt at arm’s length as he followed behind. Thomas couldn’t help but think they looked like a trail of baby ducks waddling across a street.

Everything was going smoothly until a strong wind breezed by, causing Logan to stumble a bit and take a step back bumping into Roman which caused him to bump back into Patton and Virgil. The dramatical teen grumbled annoyed, shoving Logan forward, “Watch it!”

“Excuse me if the wind is a bit strong!” Logan growled, shoving Roman back with his elbow.

“You’re just moving too slow!” Roman shot back, shoving the nerd much harder.

“You’re moving too fast!” Logan snapped back, shoving back just as hard.

“Guys, stop shoving!” Patton squeaked, trying to hold his balance as Virgil now clung more closely “Virgil, I’m losing balance, let go!”

“If I do, I’ll fall!” Virgil shrieked, unknowingly pushing Patton forward and bumping him into Roman who was still fighting with Logan.

Thomas anxiously watched the scene unfold before him in slow motion; Roman had moved to shove Logan again but Patton bumped up against him causing Roman to use more force then plan. Logan completely lost his balance and fell forward, Roman jumped to grab his arm but he too lost balance which caused Patton to grab his foot and Virgil, who still held on to back of Patton’s shirt tried to grab the tightrope of web but miss.

“Shit!” Virgil cursed as they all fell screaming before bouncing back up against the net they had forgotten was there. They still held on to each other like an awkward wiggle worm before finally collapsing into a pile of groaning teenagers.

“So, team work is a thing we need to work on,” Thomas said from above them “and from what I saw it’s gunna need a lot of work. But don’t worry, nothing a few team building exercises can’t fix. We’ll worry about that later, right now you guys need to get back up and do about fifty more of these.”

The boys groaned in protest.

\---

Thomas worked them vigorously, from flexibility to balance to strength to stamina to speed and anything else you could think of. Due to his ballet training Vigil was the most flexible and well balanced, Roman was the strongest, Patton could jump the highest, and Logan was the fastest. They all had pretty good stamina, with Virgil coming in first, Logan and Roman neck and neck, and Patton just a smidge behind. Today was mainly another test day to see what their abilities could do and Thomas made sure they took brakes in-between each session.

Thomas swore up and down to Joan and Talyn before they left that he would stay absolutely professional with these kids. The fact that he was packing water and snacks for them as he was arguing this did not help his statement. It also didn’t help that he kept fussing over them like a mother hen every time they stopped to take a rest, constantly making sure if they were okay to continue.

They had gone to do a few laps around the city and had stopped on a nearby building to take a break at around the third one. Thomas once more passed out water bottles full of vitamin c and trail mix as they sat along the side of an ally way observing the city around them. Virgil and Roman were bickering about Disney movies, Patton was telling puns and Logan was just kind of facepalming the entire time. It was nice.

“So, what do you kids think of the glamor of superhero life?” Thomas cut in as he stood up to stretch.

“Uh, a lot more physically straining then I previously thought,” Roman admitted, though he didn’t seem put off by it “but nothing I can’t handle.”

“Yeah,” Patton agreed “it’s a lot of hard work but also kind of fun.”

“I’ll take it over Ms. Green’s weekend training camps any day.” Virgil said, chugging down his water bottle.

“It was bound to be strenuous, though we weren’t sure how much so,” Logan explained “but it is what it is, not turning back now.”

Thomas smiled, a swell of pride filling his chest, “You kids sure are tough, how ‘bout we finish up this lap and-”

Thomas’s head did a double take at a figure walking down the ally way, he quickly pulled his mask down as he gestured for the kids to stay back and out of sight. Of course they didn’t completely listen and opted to pick out from the edge of the roof as they observed Thomas swinging down into the ally and stopping in front of a ginger haired man with freckles decorating his face and arms. He wore a dark green polo shirt with a sort of logo on it, kaki pants, and a matching green apron with the same logo that he been busy tying around his waist, work clothes most likely. He jumped a little, not expecting anyone to stop him, but soon relaxed when he realized who had stopped him.

“Oh, it’s you,” The man chuckled breathlessly “I thought you were supposed to be saving people, not giving them heart attacks?”

“Well, I wouldn’t need to do that if you’d just listen to me and **not** take a dangerous ally way to work.” Thomas countered teasingly, his voice deep due to the voice distorter in his mask.

“Aw, but then I wouldn’t be able to see your cute masked face,” The man giggled causing Thomas to sputter a bit “plus, it’s much faster this way so I don’t really have a choice.”

Thomas cleared his throat nervously, “I mean, you could take the one down main. It won’t get you there as quick but it’s much safer and less riddled with gang activity.”

The man rolled his eyes playfully, “You accidently get jumped by a gang one time and you never hear the end of it.”

You could practically see the raised eyebrow under Thomas is mask, “You threw a brick at one of them and broke another one’s nose.”

“In my defense they were being assholes and catcalling some poor girl walking home,” The man argued “granted she may have been a prostitute but that still doesn’t give them the right to be assholes. Plus, if they hadn’t pulled that gun out on me, I would have been fine on my own.”

“Yeah,” Thomas chuckled “that’s not accounting with the other dozen with switch blades.”

“What’s a little internal bleeding,” The man joked “but in all seriousness thanks for saving me, again.”

“I wouldn’t have to keep doing it if you’d just stopped taking this ally way.” Thomas said with a fond look.

“I thought we established that I want to keep seeing your cute masked face,” The man pouted “or is it you don’t want to see me?”

“I-I didn’t mean – it’s not…I don’t –” Thomas squeaked, sputtering for over a minute until he finally composed himself enough to blurt out “I-I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay?”

The man giggled, pulling back a strand of hair behind his ear, “That’s sweet, but I can handle myself, trust me.”

“May I remind you that last night was the fifth time I’ve saved you,” Thomas sighed, defeated “that’s a big record for literally anyone.”

“Well, then how else am I supposed to keep seeing you?” The man said smoothly, brushing by Thomas with a smile and a wave “See you ‘round, Tiger.”

Thomas stood there, dumbfounded, as he watched the ginger haired man walk out the ally way, across the street, and into a nearby coffee shop. He sighed, scratching the back of his head as he puzzled over the conversation until he heard giggling. He looked up to find four pairs of mischievous eyes staring at him through reject Rainbow Weaver masks and Thomas instantly had regrets.

Thomas quickly swung back up, clearing his throat awkwardly as he began to pack of the snacks and water. He could still feel the boys’ eyes on them, smug smiles hidden behind their masks as they watch Thomas sweat.

“He was cute.” Roman giggled in a sing song voice, Patton giggled behind him.

“Uh, yeah I guess.” Thomas mumbled.

“What’s his name?” Vigil asked teasingly.

“How should I know?” Thomas grumbled, slinging the pack over his shoulder.

“Well, considering you’ve saved him five times and patrol this ally way long enough to know he takes it everyday to work, thus being able to casually stop him to talk, it is most likely fair to assume that you do know his name.” Logan stated smugly.

“I’m guessing you’re the type of kid that gets off on making every adult feel dumb.” Thomas huffed.

“Yes.” Logan said, an obvious satisfied smile across his face.

“He’s just huffy that he can’t talk to a pretty guy without sputtering like a gay disaster.” Vigil teased.

“To think I thought he was a distinguished gay.” Roman added with a chuckle.

“Aw, I think it’s cute that Mr. Thomas has a crush.” Patton gushed sweetly.

“If stalking the ally way near said crush is work place at the exact time, he’s supposed to pass by so that he can conveniently talk to him instead of training us, then yes, I guess it is cute.” Logan chuckled.

Thomas glared at the giggling teens before giving them a blank look and casually stating, “Five more laps around the city.”

He leaped off towards the next building leaving behind a group of groaning spider teens who reluctantly followed, spouting apologizes.

“Come on Thomas, we were only joking!” Vigil whined.

“It was a valiant effort at romance!” Roman added.

“He may reciprocate feelings for you!” Logan stated.

“You two really are super cute!” Patton shouted.

“Eight laps!” Thomas called back, more groaning echoed throughout the busy city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and kudos!


	5. Sibling Banter and Gay Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan's brother comes over for dinner, Virgil and Roman work on that project due Monday, Patton is exasperated by his brothers, and Thomas does something reckless!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey kiddos, I’m back! Your main bitch here has NOT been in the best mental health as of late :) My boss at my current job is driving me up a wall and I may need to find a new one since he might not be able to pay me for the hours I do, my depression is kicking my ass, and my dog was going to have puppies but then had a miscarriage and it turns out she can never have puppies again or risk dying next time. Soooo yeah, I’m probably not okay, but that’s okay because we are back with another chapter of your fav spiderbois! Again, huge thanks to sugarglider9603 and ask-spiderverse-virgil on Tumblr for their wonderful au! Also shout out to khadij-al-kubra (also on Tumblr) for helping me appropriately write Logan and his family! They gave me some awesome advice and insight into Muslim culture and you should totally check out their blog and read their Thomas In Wonderland fan fic, it’s super cute! Anyways, now with that out of the way please ENJOY!!!!

The boys collapsed on to the couch in Thomas’s living room in one heaping pile of uncoordinated limbs and groans. They were absolutely exhausted, aching joints and sore muscles which they were careful to move slowly. Thomas, meanwhile, leaned over the back of the couch, suit still intact but mask off, smiling amusingly at the tired teens.

“So, third day of training went well,” Thomas snickered, the boys groaned in response causing the older man to laugh again “yeah, you’ll get use to it eventually. Just because your muscles are stronger doesn’t mean they aren’t prone to getting tired when worked out.”

“I take back every nice thing I said about you,” Virgil murmured, face down across the couch “you are the absolute worst and I’d rather take Ms. Green’s Saturday day classes.”

“I ache all over.” Patton whined.

“The body takes about a week or so to get used to routine work out,” Logan groaned out “but as you do you adjust it so that you don’t get used to it and extend your bodies limit. But even so this training fucking sucks!”

“Agreed,” Roman grunted “I have so many regrets.”

“Toughen up boys, you all wanted to be super heroes,” Thomas tutted “besides, we haven’t even gotten to the hard parts yet.”

“The worst!” Virgil hissed “Terrible mentor! Zero out of ten!”

Thomas chuckled, “If it helps, you all are doing great. I’m really proud off all the effort and hard work you’ve been putting into this. Now, weather that’ll stay throughout the entirety of your training is to be determined but I have faith in you all.”

The boys stayed quiet for a long while, faces flushed red though it wasn’t from the intense work out they just had, mostly. They’ve all been doing their damnedest to show how serious they were about becoming heroes, wanting to prove to Thomas and everyone else that they weren’t messing around. And even if it’s only been a short while it was nice to know that Thomas had faith in them and wanted to see them succeed. It was pretty fucking sweet to know that your hero and now mentor had your back.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too sappy, you still suck.” Virgil grumbled, but the blush on his cheeks plus the smile he kept trying to hide told a different tale.

“Oh well, if I’m the worse them I guess you guys wouldn’t be interested in any of the ‘after work out’ sandwiches I made,” Thomas said innocently, turning to walk towards the kitchen “plus, a banana and strawberry milkshake but it’s probably not that great cause, you know, I’m the worst and all.”

The boys were silent once more before suddenly jumping off the couch and racing after Thomas towards the kitchen.

“Best teacher! Twelve out of ten gold stars!” Virgil called out.

“I’m not all that achey!” Patton said, a slight wince in his step.

“Well really the body shouldn’t ever get used to a work out too much,” Logan informed “and the routines you’ve set up for us will really balance out our bodies.”

“Best decision of my life! Absolutely, no regrets!” Roman cheered.

\---

The boys lazed around in the kitchen, chatting as they ate their mountain of sandwiches and delicious milkshakes and Thomas couldn’t help but feel kind of domestic. He didn’t usually have much company besides Joan and Talyn and even then, he was sometimes too busy to properly hang out with them. But they understood, even before they found out about him being Rainbow Weaver Joan and Talyn were always supporting him and Thomas will forever be grateful for that. But there was just something about having a room full of people, chatting and laughing, with a mutual understanding of each other’s situation that made Thomas feel…less alone.

‘Welcome to parenthood fucker!’ A voice in Thomas’s head, that suspiciously sounded a lot like Joan, cackled.

“Shush.” Thomas mumbled quietly as he shook his head to silence the voice before returning to the conversation at hand.

“The whole movie is basically a promotion on Stockholm syndrome!” Virgil exclaimed.

“She stayed on her own accord so she could save her father!” Roman shot back “Plus he did let her go after she went into the forbidden room only SAVE her when she was in danger! She could have left after he passed out but no, she went back again WILLINGLY to nurse him back to health!”

Roman and Virgil had been arguing about the story line of various Disney movies for the better part of an hour now. Thomas, Logan, and Patton sat as the audience, occasionally throwing in their own opinions but staying out of it for the most part. Even if the debate seemed intense it kind of looked like the two were having fun in their own strange way. Currently they were discussing the elements of Beauty and the Beast.

“Yeah, because it’s either get mauled to death and freeze in the woods or be trapped in solitude!” Virgil quipped “She just chose the better half of a bad situation that would provide her with food and shelter!”

“But they fell in love!” Roman cried.

“Yes, because a prisoner falling in love with their capture is totally healthy and cool if you add bunch of dancing silverware!” Virgil snarked.

“Ugh! You are impossible!” Roman groaned “How is it you claim to like Disney but have all this bad to say about it?”

“Because it’s literally the whole reason I like it in the first place,” Virgil snorted “there are so many dark elements to it that people over look. Especially if you read the original fairy tales that inspired them.”

“You just want to make everything dark and edgy,” Roman grumbled “not everything has to have a dark side.”

“Everything does have a dark side, Sir Sing-A-Lot.” Virgil smirked.

“Ha, I like that nickname and I’m gunna use it!” Roman huffed.

“Not that it isn’t great that you two are getting along,” Logan said sarcastically, finishing his milkshake and grabbing another sandwich “but me and Virgil got to get going or we’ll be late for dinner and I would rather not endure my mother’s wrath.”

“Oh shit, that’s today?” Virgil asked as he began to pack his stuff.

“What’s today?” Patton asked curiously.

“My brother is coming over for dinner,” Logan replied dryly “we haven’t seen him in a while.”

“You don’t seem too excited.” Thomas said.

“It’s not that I’m not excited to see him after so long it’s just…” Logan paused, fidgeting over uncomfortable feel of emotion running through his brain, wondering if he should even bother discussing this any further. Eventually, he chose not to, “Nothing, it’s just, you know, tired from all the training and…stuff.”

Thomas knew there was something more to the whole situation, as did Patton and Roman, but out of politeness nobody said anything. They instead looked to Virgil to see if he could clue them in on something, they were missing but the purple clad teen only shrugged and shook his head. So, they were quick to change the subject.

“What are the rest of you doing this evening?” Thomas asked.

“My brother Alex said he was gunna take me and Georgie, my other brother, out somewhere,” Patton sighed, rolling his eyes “that’s usually code for he wants to impress a girl by showing what a ‘cool and caring’ brother he is and will fail miserably. But hey, I’m not gunna look a gift horse in the mouth, usually he takes us to cool places.”

“My mom and sister are working late again so I have to pick up and babysit the twins,” Roman replied before suddenly remembering something and turned to Virgil “Virgil what are you doing?”

Virgil paused, giving Roman an odd look, “Uh, besides dinner at the Quinn’s, nothing much afterwards. Why?”

“Good, because you need to come over so we can finish up that stupid essay due on Monday and I can’t have you over on Sunday because we have church and a baby shower to go to.” Roman said as he casually munched on another sandwich.

“Shit, that’s still a thing,” Virgil groaned, looking to Logan for help “have you even started on that?”

“Oh yes, me and Patton finished it recently.” Logan replied coolly.

“We video chatted since me and Lo had other stuff to attend to and couldn’t come over to each other’s houses.” Patton added.

“That’s why you flaked out on movie night yesterday,” Roman said in a moment of realization before pouting “you chose a study date with your boyfriend over me?”

Logan choked on the sandwich he was still munching on whole Patton squeaked and flushed a dark red. Virgil snickered as he went over to pat Logan’s back until he stopped coughing while Patton blubbered and waved his hands around, shrieking how “it’s not like that Roman, you know that! We just- we study a-and – we aren’t, uh…” Logan was soon to join in once he got the proper amount of air in his lungs, face just and red and sputtering just as embarrassed.

Thomas bit back a laugh while Roman and Virgil, the little shits, out right smirked in that smug way all best friends do when they see each other suffering. It was painfully obvious that Logan and Patton a “thing” for each other but were just too shy and awkward to acknowledge it. It was easy to push their buttons and was also extremely entertaining to watch. Still, Thomas was merciful and kindly decided to redirect the subject again.

“Well, while you kids enjoy your evening plans, I’ll be out on patrol,” Thomas said, stretching out a bit “so if you need to contact me and I’m a little slow to respond you’ll know why.”

“Might pass by that ally way again while patrolling?” Virgil asked innocently, though the devious smirk on his face was a dead giveaway “You know, just to make sure there’s no one in danger?”

“Yeah, like a certain cute barista?” Roman snickered.

Thomas’s cheeks colored pink and he regretted his previous act of mercy because those little vipers turn head so fast it’s as if they planed it. “You know we could just spend a whole day doing laps next training day?”

“We could, but that still wouldn’t erase the fact that you’re too gay to function around attractive males.” Logan smirked.

“Aw, but wouldn’t it be cute if they went out on a date?” Patton gushed, his comment was genuine but that didn’t make Thomas any less flustered. “You should try and talk to him, like for reals. Maybe ask him out on a cute little coffee date?”

“I am like flashing back to so many Coffee Shop Au fics it’s not even funny,” Virgil laughed breathlessly “anyway, Roman, text me your address and I’ll swing by after dinner. See ya gays later.”

“Don’t you mean guys?” Patton asked.

“I know what I said.” Virgil replied as he and Logan made their way out of the kitchen.

Roman shrugged, “He isn’t wrong though.”

\---

They arrived at their apartment building in record time, Vigil having informed his parents before hand that he’d be at Logan’s for dinner before heading out to Roman’s to finish up the essay. Though at the moment neither of them were in any hurry to get to where they were going, taking a dramatically long time climbing up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to tag along with you and Morgan after dinner?” Virgil asked for the tenth time that day “I really, _really_ don’t mind flaking out on Roman.”

“As much as I would like that you really do need to finish your essay,” Logan sighed “it counts as a major grade for your science class.”

It wasn’t that Logan’s brother was a bad guy, on the contrary he was actually really cool and easy to talk too, but the constant comparisons made between them by their parents made Logan kind of resent him, just a little. Don’t get him wrong, Logan loved his older brother and wouldn’t mind spending more time with him but as of late the closer Logan got to graduation the more his parents…“pushed” him to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He couldn’t even mention about applying for colleges around them because then they’d go into a spiral about all the colleges Morgan got excepted to at his age and how he should apply for those and go for this program that Morgan did and maybe he could study abroad like Morgan did. It’s not like they did it on purpose, Logan knew his parents loved him and were proud of him, they only wanted what’s best for him so that he could succeed and gain opportunities that they couldn’t when they were young. But sometimes it just…got a bit much.

“Come on, let me procrastinate,” Virgil whined, though it was more to make Logan laugh then being serious “I don’t want to spend my whole afternoon with Roman.”

“It’s not my fault the teachers chose him as a partner for you,” Logan chuckled “at least he’s willing to do work and not slack off like others. Plus, better him then Dolion.”

“Mmh, true,” Virgil grumbled “but stiiiill! The only reason you’re not complaining is because you got to be all buddy-buddy with Patton and make heart eyes at him all day.”

As expected, Logan was a blushing, sputtering mess, “I-it’s not like that!”

Vigil continued to tease his best friend all the way up until their destination, then everything got tense again. Logan took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he went over the most likely scenarios that would happen during dinner, none of them were good. But Logan just had to get through dinner then an awkward night out with his brother and after he could just sulk in his room the rest of the night. His train of thought was broken by a gentle hand squeezing his own and he turned to find Virgil smiling at him sympathetically.

“I got your back if that means anything?” Virgil shrugged.

Logan gave him a tiny, appreciative smile, “It means everything.”

“Great,” Virgil turned towards the awaiting door in front of them “let’s face Hades together.”

“You know, Hades wasn’t an evil god,” Logan began to explain “he was just god of the Underworld and-”

“You know what I mean.” Virgil scoffed as he opened the door to Logan’s apartment.

Inside, Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were in the living room enthusiastically entertaining their special guest of the evening, Morgan Quinn. Looks wise, Morgan and Logan looked pretty similar, tall lanky build, neat trimmed hair, and thick square glasses. Personality wise, they couldn’t be more different, Logan was always the more serious of the two while Morgan tended to be the more goofy, social butterfly. Despite being polar opposites, they got along pretty great, Morgan was the one that introduced Logan to his love of space and it was that mutual love that formed an incredible bond between them. They’d always go up to the roof and look at the stars through their telescope, read up on NASA’s latest discoveries and plans, or just binge watch a bunch of space documentaries. But lately, Logan’s been looking at the stars less, it’s been moths since he’s looked into what NASA’s been up too, and he’s kind of been avoiding space documentaries all together if he’s honest.

“Lolo!” Morgan exclaimed excitedly as he rushed to hug his brother “Salaam alekum!”

“Waalekum salaam,” Logan replied, a small smile appearing on his face despite his internal conflict “welcome home.”

“Geez, you sprouted up like a bean stalk,” Morgan laughed as he pulled back to look over his little brother “what are Ummi and Babá feeding you?”

“All required nutrition regiments,” Logan quipped “though I can only assume your stunted growth is due to the college dietary restrictions of coffee and instant noodles.”

“Quit exposing me,” Morgan chided playfully before turning to Virgil with his arms open wide for a hug “Virge, salaam alekum!”

“Waalekum salaam,” Virgil replied, tentatively accepting the hug though Morgan knew he wasn’t one for physical affection so he didn’t linger long “how you’ve been?”

“I’ve been great, tired but great,” Morgan chuckled “and you still haven’t grown? I though Ummi was stuffing you down with the same thing she’s been feeding Logan?”

“Gunna take a lot more then forced self-care to make me into a functioning human being.” Virgil smirked.

“Speaking of eating,” Mrs. Quinn cut through the chatter as she made her way to the kitchen “I made your favorite Morgan, kufta and rice. Shall we eat now?”

“Please,” Morgan half begged “I’m a starving college student.”

They family plus Virgil gathered around the table, filling their plates with the lamb meat balls, rice and side salad put in place. It was all pleasantries at first, catching up on each other’s lives and reminiscing on the past and how it compared to the present. It was nice, laughter and chatter filled the room as other’s ate to think of more conversation topics.

Then Mrs. Quinn asked, “How has your internship been at Oscorps?”

And so it began.

“Oh, it’s been amazing,” Morgan gushed “I’ve been learning so much about bioengineering and genetic research. There’s been so many advances made in the medical field and it’s just fascinating to see the behind the scenes of everything.”

“You know, Logan and Virgil went on a field trip to Oscorps this week,” Mr. Quinn said, unknown to him that Logan’s eye began to twitch waiting for the inevitable “I would have hoped they’d see you there in action.”

“Oh no, I’m usually in the back with the researchers,” Morgan explained before looking to his brother “but if you would have texted me earlier, I could have given you and Virge a secret tour of the latest project we’ve been working on. It’s awesome, you would have loved it Lo.”

“I, um…” Logan began, fiddling with the food on his plate.

“Logan, I thought we told you to call your brother and ask about the internship requirements?” Mrs. Quinn asked.

“I forgot.” Logan said lamely.

“Babá you can’t afford to be forgetting these things,” Mr. Quinn scolded gently “you have to build up a good college resume and a company like Oscorps will get you accepted into any school you want.”

“Yeah, I know.” Logan mumbled, having stopped eating all together and was now just staring at his plate.

“Well, he’s still just a junior in high school,” Morgan cut in before more could be said by either of his parents “an internship like this is not easy to come by. Some people are on a waiting list for years and even then, they might not get accepted.”

“But didn’t they offer you a position when you were in high school?” Mrs. Quinn asked “Surely if Logan took an extra class or two, he could have one too.”

“What they offered me was an errand boy that made print outs and got coffee,” Morgan explained, secretly watching as the tension in his brother’s shoulders relaxed just a bit “they’re not gunna let a high schooler into a research lab no matter how smart he is. Maybe once he hits college but even then, he could get a much better offer from somewhere else. I hear the robotic engineering program in Carnegie and Brown are real buddy-buddy with Stark Industries.”

Logan smiled, just a little, tentative and quiet, “Really?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Quinn butted in, and just like that the tension in Logan’s shoulders returned “Stark Industries is sketchy at best, especially with all that Avengers mumbo-jumbo going on. Besides, wouldn’t a job in the medical field be more secure financial wise? All I ever see that Tony Stark do on the news is make new toys for him to play with and destroy the city.”

“Saving the world from an alien invasion and government corruption,” Morgan explained “pretty sure that’s kind of important Ummi.”

Mrs. Quinn shrugged, “I guess so.”

“But what about that whole mess with the Avengers?” Mr. Quinn asked “Or whatever’s going on there? There’s always some kind of conflict with them.”

“It’s been cleared up now,” Morgan informed them “plus I hear Stark Industries are partnering up with a famed research facility in Wakanda. They’re supposed to have technological advances years beyond us. I’m sure Logan will be snatched up in an instant.”

Mr. and Mrs. Quinn seemed sort of swayed but they surely still had more questions and probing statements to say. Thankfully, Morgan was quick to jump in and change the conversation. “So Logan, Ummi and Babá were telling me how you, Virge and some friends made a club together, how’s that been going?”

Not a topic Logan wished to discuss in great detail but he’d chose that over the previous one. “Uh, great, we’ve been making excellent progress.”

“And what of the other guys in your group?” Morgan asked, genuinely curious “How are they like?”

“They’re…great,” Logan chuckled awkwardly “just two classmates from our school, Patton and Roman, we all head a group project together and we got discussing on some issues and of course one thing led to another.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Virgil added “and we’re getting…stuff and things done. It’s small but nice.”

“That’s good,” Morgan smiled “I hope to meet these new friends someday, I’m getting kind of tired of just Virgil at our house all the time.”

“You know we all thought the same thing with you,” Virgil rolled his eyes but gave an easy smirked “thank god you left for college.”

Morgan laughed, “Geez, Virge, tell me how you really feel. Also, I heard you guys were being sponsored by Thomas Sanders, unless Ummi and Babá got the name mixed up?”

“Yeah, we didn’t believe it either at first,” Logan chuckled nervously, him and Virgil sharing a knowing look “but the school district recommended him and he accepted so it was only logical of us to accept as well.”

“How hard did you and Virgil fan girl? Be honest.” Morgan teased.

Logan pouted (though he’d deny it till his dying day) and promptly returned to his dinner, “Suddenly, I don’t remember the details.”

“It’s like it never even happened,” Virgil added dramatically “Thomas Sanders who? What club?”

“Aw, come on guys!” Morgan chuckled, playfully shoving his brother’s shoulder “I’m only kidding…mildly, though seriously how hard did you fan girl? Cause I’m pretty sure Virge has a fan about him that’s just as big as Rainbow Weaver.”

“You know what, go back to your internship and shove your head in a toxic waste tank,” Virgil quipped with flushed cheeks “nobody wanted you here anyway.”

“Hey, you never know, I might gain powers like Rainbow Weaver,” Morgan smirked triumphantly “then I’ll be the one meeting him.”

Logan smirked mysteriously, “Doubtful.”

\---

Roman had just finished cleaning the last of the dishes when a buzz was heard throughout the apartment. He was quick to wipe his hands as he moved pasted the kitchen table where the twins were doing homework, ruffling Marco’s hair in the process. The younger gave off an annoyed whine as he swatted his older brother’s hand away who chuckled to himself as he reached the buzzer box and pressed the call button.

“Who is it?” Roman asked.

“It’s Virgil, buzz me in.” The voice responded.

“Sure, give me a minute,” Roman replied, pressing another button before heading off towards his room to retrieve his backpack and set up in the living room. He did not for the life of him trust the twins by themselves, little demons could get into loads of trouble the second you look away from them.

“Who’s that?” Jenni asked, inspecting over her macaroni art project.

“A…friend?” Roman said tentatively “We’re gunna do homework, that’s all you need to know so keep the noise down to a minimum when you guys are done, okay?”

“Is it Patton?” Marco asked excitingly, he always liked when Patton came over, Patton usually spoiled the two with homemade treats.

“No, it’s not Patton.” Roman said, rummaging through his back for the notes Logan gave him.

“Then who is he?” Jenni asked, curiosity finally pulling her away from her glittery macaroni art disaster. Roman groaned at the thought of having to clean that up later.

“Just, uh, guy from a club I’m in,” Roman explained begrudgingly “we have to do a project together, that’s all.”

“Why didn’t you pick Patton as your partner?” Marco asked, half disappointed he would be getting sweets but also curious as to who this new person was.

“Because the teacher chose them for us.” Roman responded bluntly.

“Why?” Jenni asked.

“Because the school system is a dumb-dumb.” Roman said tiredly.

“Why?” Marco asked.

“Why are you guys so invested in this?” Roman snapped, he didn’t mean to but he was already on edge as it was. Virgil and him had a rocky relationship as it was, they were co-workers at best after the whole spider power thing, but even so he had no idea where he stood with him. He knew exactly where he stood with everybody else; Patton was his best friend, Thomas was his mentor and Logan was a nuisance though still fun to poke at. Virgil was just a wild card, sometimes they got along and sometimes they didn’t, it was a weird line they walked and Roman had no idea what step was the wrong step and which one was the right.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Jenni sang, Marco giggling beside her as Roman’s face lit up in red hot flames. “Absolutely not!”

\---

Vigil found himself once more taking his time climbing up the stairs when there was a perfectly functioning elevator. The realization of what he was doing and where he was going finally hit him after seeing Morgan and Logan out after dinner. He was going to Roman Marigold’s apartment, Roman Marigold, quite possibly the most annoying human being in the entire school next to Dolion.

It’s not that Roman seemed like a bad guy, he was actually pretty decent when his giant ego was in check and wasn’t jumping off buildings unexpectedly. But for some reason he just got under Virgil’s skin and knew what buttons to press to get a reaction out of him. Though he had no ide if he was doing it to be mean or it was just this weird thing between them. When Roman fought with Logan you always kind of got this vibe that they…not liked each other though it seems like they had mutual respect. But when he and Roman fought it varied on what the situation was, sometimes it could be Disney banters, playful bickering, full on heated debates, or just poking insults. It was weird and Virgil had no idea what to do with it.

He finally reached the door and just as he was about to knock, he heard giggling and a high pitch screech. “Absolutely not!”

Maybe this was bad time, he should probably go back, Virgil didn’t want to be caught in the middle of any family disputes if this was what it was. But he didn’t move to leave, nor did he move to knock again, he just stood there frozen in perpetual confusion and panic, listening to the conversation beyond the door.

Tiny voices sang in a jumpy school yard tune, “Roman’s got a boyfriend! Roman’s got a boyfriend!”

“I do not!” Came the embarrassed reply that Virgil could only guess was Roman.

Virgil clasped a hand over his mouth so as to repress the giggle threatening to slip. It was absolutely hilarious to hear the pristine ego maniac that is Roman Marigold get flustered and loss his cool due to, what sounded like, a bunch of little kids taunting him. Even so it wasn’t very appropriate of him to be eavesdropping on people’s conversations, no matter how hilarious or ridiculous they may seem, so he made quick work of knocking on the door.

It opened almost immediately, a red cheeked Roman staring intently at him, “Oh, you’re here.”

“Yeah, I buzzed you like five minutes ago, remember?” Virgil smirked “We’re you talking to someone?”

“No! No, just…you know,” The flamboyant teen made a vague gesture with his hands “things?”

“Things?” Virgil echoed with an odd look.

Roman nodded and it was suddenly quiet for a long time. Virgil awkwardly standing in the hallway while Roman fidgeted against the door frame, both staring intently at each other without blinking. Finally, a cough from behind Roman snapped them both out of their stupor. They turned to find two smirking children peeking out from behind the living room couch, no doubt Roman’s siblings, they were practically mini carbon copies.

Roman glared at them while Virgil gave a shy wave before asking, “Can I come in now?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Roman stuttered, quickly stepping aside to let Virgil in.

\---

Morgan had gotten them tickets to the planetarium viewing of Dark Universe at the American Museum of National History as well as general passes for the rest of the museum. Logan was admittingly excited to go, it’s been a long time since he’s been to a planetarium especially one as grand as the Hayden Planetarium. But on the other hand, the awkward silence between Logan and his brother during the entire taxi ride here was very heavy and uncomfortable. Not that Morgan wasn’t trying to make conversation it’s just that Logan was snubbing them out as quickly as he was thinking them.

Dinner with other people was one thing, an outing by themselves was another. There weren’t other people to buffer out the awkward when things got slow or stale. They use to go on outings together all the time, talking endlessly for hours and hour far into the night, discussing the universe, life, and anything else they could think of. But that was then, this was now, and as of now they haven’t hung out properly in a long time plus Logan’s parents weren’t really helping him warm up to the whole situation. Regardless if Morgan was able to diverge the conversation near the end or not there was still that…tension.

“So…have you ever seen Dark Universe before?” Morgan asked as the lazily walked inside the building, the display of planets across the outside of the planetarium quiet distracting. There were two entrance into the museum, at the front where the famed t-rex statue was displayed and the back where the Earth and Science exhibits were.

“They were going to take us last year for a school field trip but the bus broke down and we missed the showing.” Logan shrugged, looking around at all the displays of planets, stars and solar systems.

“Ah, well that means it’ll be a first viewing for both of us,” Morgan said cheerily, dramatically raising a fist in the air “a bonding experience we shall never forget!”

Logan raised an eyebrow at his brother’s weird display who in turn shyly put his hand down, “Uh, anyway, how’s life? How’s school? How’s that club you got going?”

“It’s fine,” Logan said simply “everything is functioning as it should, it’s only the beginning of the first semester so nothing much has happened. Well, except for…a complication.”

“Yeah, mom and dad told me what happened,” Morgan sighed, a bitter sneer on his face “I still can’t believe there’s jerks like that out there.”

“Indeed,” Logan nodded “but it’s nothing to get worked up over, it’s not like it was the root of the whole ordeal. I was merely…defending a friend from certain public humiliation.”

“Who were they anyway?” Morgan asked before clarifying “The friend you helped out, are they in that club you made?”

“Uh, yes,” Logan said bashfully, a light pink dusking his cheeks “his name is – Patton?”

Logan froze in his tracks, his brother taking a second to notice, because there near a display of Halley’s comet was Patton Foster. He was wearing a stunning high waist space print skirt, black leggings, a soft looking baby blue crop top sweater, and black boots. He also wore sparkly silver star droop earrings and a matching moon neckless, as well as glittery silver clips in his hair. Patton had yet to notice Logan staring, too enraptured in reading over the little facts beside the display, and the genus will forever be grateful for that.

“Who’s that?” Morgan asked, snapping Logan out of his daze.

“Uh, no one,” Logan said much too quickly “l-let’s take a short cut another direction, I think I saw a map that showed the way.”

Morgan smirked deviously, “They don’t look like no one, you obviously know their name.”

Logan was screwed.

“H-he’s just a friend from school, I don’t want to bother him,” Logan sputtered nervously “let’s just go somewhere else so we won’t disturb his evening.”

“Hey, there’s no harm in saying hi,” Morgan chuckled, grabbing onto his brother’s arm so he wouldn’t scurry way “plus, he’s looking this way already.”

“What?” Logan squeaked.

True to his word, Patton had seen them and was now waving at them with that big, bright, beautiful smile of his. Morgan, the devil, waved back just as enthusiastically as he dragged Logan along with him because he’s was half certain Logan was frozen stiff. As they got closer Patton seemingly decided to meet them half way, bright eyed and springy as ever.

“Hey Lo, I didn’t think I’d see you here,” Patton smiled, he looked to Morgan curiously “is this your brother?”

“So, he does talk about me,” Morgan joked and Logan died “all good things I hope.”

Patton giggled, a pleasant bell to Logan’s ears, “Only in passing conversation but being that your brothers I can only assume you’re just as smart and amazing as he is.”

Morgan smiled big and wide, leaning down near Logan in an exaggerated whisper, “I like him, keep him around.”

Logan wasn’t a violent man by nature but annoying sibling could just so easily get under your skin and drive you to murder. “What brings you to the museum Patton? It was my assumption you were on an outing with your brothers.”

Patton pouted, blowing out a huff of air, “Yeah, Alex went to flirt with receptionist lady and Georgie left to drag him back. Alex won a raffle at work and won tickets to this show at the planetarium called Dark Universe. I’m honestly kind of nervous, I don’t really know what it’s about and the title doesn’t seem too pleasant.”

“No need to worry Patton,” Logan assured “it’s simply a documentary displaying the wonders of our universe while providing commentary. Nothing scary or abnormal, I promise.”

“Oh good,” Patton sighed in relief “I was worried that-”

“Ahk, Georgie! Put me down!”

“Stop behaving like a child and I’ll think about it. Where’s Patton?”

“I think he’s over there? Hey! Hey, Pat! Yhoohoo! We’re over here!”

Patton’s face morphed into something between embarrassment and annoyance as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He seemed to be actively avoiding making eye contact with the two squabbling giants heading towards them. They looked to be the perfect size for professional football players or basketball players or both, point is they were huge compared to petite Patton who landed just under Logan’s nose. Then again, Logan was pretty tall though not as tall as those two…where were they?

\---

Out of all the places and times to run into Logan outside of school and/or hero training this would have been the perfect place but it was simply just the WORST time. Patton didn’t mind evenings out with his brothers, he liked spending time with them and the outings were usually fun. Their antics, specifically Alex being troubling making dork while Georgie forcefully drags him out of trouble and Patton watches helplessly by the sidelines, were amusing at best but annoying most of the time.

Don’t get Patton wrong, he loved his brothers with all his heart but sometimes they (*cough*Alex*cough*) had no shame what-so-ever. Great for Georgie who wasn’t afraid of a few staring eyes when pulling his brothers out of trouble, not great for Alex who is such a drama queen he makes Roman look tame. Outing with his brothers were not meant to be witnessed by anyone but the strangers of Manhattan who they’ll never see again, NOT cute boys that Patton kind of sort of had a crush on.

Patton gave Logan and his brother his best smile, though it was very obviously forced, “Excuse me.”

He quickly whizzed around to face his brothers, forced smile still displayed on his face, “I heard you the first time Alex, everyone could.”

Alex, who was hazardously draped over Georgie’s shoulder like a sack of flour, simply pouted as he wiggled out of his elder brother’s grip, “Just making sure, you seemed distracted. Who’re the nerds?”

Georgie smacked Alex across the head, “Be polite.”

“Ow, geez,” Alex whined, rubbing his sore skull “you can kill someone with those hands Georgie. Like in that movie Green House!”

“Green Mile.” Georgie corrected cooly.

Alex snapped his fingers, “That’s the one, anyway, back to the nerds.” Another smack “Ow, hey! I didn’t mean it, it was a joke! See they ain’t bothered!”

Patton took a deep and steady breath as he turned back to the Quinn brothers with an embarrassed smile, “Logan, Morgan, these are my older brothers: Georgie and Alex. Georgie and Alex, this is my friend Logan and his older brother, Morgan. They came to watch the space show too.”

Georgie nodded while Alex gave a false salute, “Sup.”

“How do you do?” Logan said politely as he and his brother stuck out their hands to shake.

Georgie was quick to shake both their hands as was Alex but he paused when he got to Logan, leaning down to intensely stare at him. Patton wanted to scream, truly he did, but that would just let Alex figure everything out that much quicker as well as cause a scene.

“Logan, huh,” Alex hummed as he leaned forward and Logan visibly gulped as he leaned back “where have I heard that name before? I know you ain’t related to that Paul guy from YouTube because you actually look respectable.”

Patton slapped a hand over his face, “Oh my god…”

“He’s one of the boys in the club Pat’s help make.” Georgie said helpfully, not at all fazed by his brother’s borderline interrogation on poor Logan.

“Oh yeah,” Alex nodded, finally letting go of Logan’s hand and giving him proper personal space “you guys made that, uh…what’s the politically correct term for this? I don’t wanna offend anyone.”

“To late.” Patton mumbled grimly.

“LGBTQ+ Youth Group.” Georgie provided.

“Jesus that’s a mouth full,” Alex sighed before pondering once more “nah, but other then that I swear I heard Patton mention that name before just…can’t remember.”

Patton sighed in relief, _Thank god!_

“Wait I know!” Alex exclaimed.

_Shit!_

Alex became giddy with excitement, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that just spelled doom for Patton. “He’s that bo – mmhf!”

Georgie was swift yet casual as he slapped a large hand over Alex’s mouth and began to drag him away, “The show is starting soon, we should grab seats together.”

Internally Patton was crying, Georgie was a saint and he definitely deserved a special cake baked in his honor. Externally Patton sighed tiredly once more, giving Logan and Morgan an apologetic smile. “Sorry about them, well, mainly Alex. He’s…a lot sometimes.”

Morgan shrugged, “Brothers, what can you do about them? This guy was a terror when he was younger, he would use his diapers as – oof!” Morgan groaned in pain as Logan elbowed him in the stomach, eyes shut in annoyance and left brow twitching.

Patton giggled, glad not to be the only one being teased by his older brothers, “Older brothers huh?”

“Quite unfortunate are we, huh?” Logan chuckled breathlessly.

“Seriously, what are mom and dad feeding you? I almost puked my guts out!” Morgan wheezed.

\---

This was a terrible idea! This was a terrible, awful idea! Why did Thomas think this was a good idea? Why was he even listening to Patton’s advice, he was pretty sure the kid was mostly joking? But here her was at that same damn alley way, in civilian clothes, looking across the street into a familiar little coffee shop with a familiar red headed barista taking down orders behind the register. Thomas groaned, scrubbing his heads over his face, he looked like a fucking stalker, seriously!

He had convinced himself to take a quick brake before heading out on patrol again, maybe grab a cup of coffee to wake him up a bit. It wasn’t his fault the shop just so happened to be near by and hey if that cute guy just so happened to be working there at this time it wasn’t like a big deal. It wasn’t like he knew who Thomas was so he could just be casual, order a coffee, strike up a conversation, nothing big. But now he was here across the street and he saw the guy smile and laugh at something his co-worker said and Thomas just got weak in the knees.

“Why am I here?” Thomas groaned, leaning back against the grimy alley wall “I don’t even know his name! All I know is that he can’t seem to stay out of trouble!”

He looked back into the coffee shop, it seemed to be a slow day, only three or so customs lounging around in the sitting area as cute red head wiped down the counter. Okay, so the good news was there wasn’t much people so Thomas didn’t have to rush when he inevitably stuttered out his order. Bad news was he still had to muster up the courage to go in and talk to him and that was never gunna happen.

It was then he noticed a shady looking guy walk past him and across the street, his hood flipped up and shoulders scrunched in. He looked like the typical grumpy New Yorker that only seemed threatening but Thomas is spidy sense told him otherwise. Plus, he was definitely not hiding that gun, which was tucked in the back of his jeans like some stupid idiot wanna-be gang member, very well.

Thomas was quick to sprint across the street without the hoodlum seeing him, just beating him to the door by a moment. Thomas swung the door open at about half strength smacking the criminal right in the face. An audible crack was heard sending the criminal falling backwards with a bloody nose and maybe a minor concussion. Thomas made sure to ham up his clumsy civilian act.

“Oh gosh man! I’m so, so sorry!” Thomas gasped, helping the man up right with the intention of sneaking a hand around to disarm the gun “Are you alright?”

“Do I fucking look alright you stupid idiot!” The man snapped, much to distracted with the pain of his face to notice the faint clicking noises behind him. Talyn had shown Thomas how to dismantle a gun with one hand their freshman year of college, he doesn’t know why they know that but he’s thankful for it because it makes his job so much easier.

“Sorry dude, can I do anything to help?” Thomas asked in an artificially sweet voice.

“No, fuck off!” The man growled, quick to turn head with his tail between his legs, embarrassed by job never done.

Thomas watched him leave down the alley way, depositing the bullet clip he swiped into a nearby trash bin before heading inside. He noticed the speckles of blood on the glass door as he entered and grimaced with guilt. Once fully through Thomas finally noticed that the red head was staring at him and it dawned on him that he probably witnessed the whole ordeal and though he was a clumsy oaf.

“Uh, sorry about the door,” Thomas said, rubbing a hand behind his neck “If you got some paper towels, I’ll, uh, clean it up for you guys if you want?”

The red head’s eyes were wide with shock, steel blue eyes piercing into Thomas is soul, “That guy was gunna mug us.”

Thomas sputtered in response, “Uh, he – um…”

“I saw him across the street openly stalking the café all day today,” The red head scoffed “he wasn’t really subtle about it. He was probably waiting for us to wind down for the night.”

“Wait,” Thomas squinted suspiciously “if you knew he was gunna rob the place why didn’t you call the police?”

The red head rolled his eyes, “We did, but to them he wasn’t doing anything wrong until now. Stupid cops…” He smiled charmingly “but you came down here pretty quick and practically bashed his skull in. What are you, some sort of vigilante?”

“N-no!” Thomas gulped “I-it’s just I…I saw his gun and I couldn’t just stand there!”

“Well, you could have gotten yourself hurt too.” The red head countered.

Thomas gave a breathless chuckle, “Trust me, I’m not as defenseless as most people think I am.”

The red head giggled, placing his chin to the palm of his hand, “Oh yeah?”

“If it helps, I disarmed his gun before anything?” Thomas said bashfully, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket.

The red head’s eyes went wide again, “What, did you do it with one hand?”

“Yeah?” Thomas said hesitantly, this guy was way more observant then Thomas previously thought “If you wanna check, the gun clip is still in the trash bin.”

The red head laughed joyously, a beautiful melody to Thomas is ears, “You really are something! So, what can I get my hero tonight? On the house of course.”

“Oh no, I don’t want to bother-” Thomas began only to get cut off by another joyful laugh “Bother all you want, you just saved my ass from being mugged.”

“It was no trouble,” Thomas shrugged, a goofy smile surely on his face “it-it really wasn’t a big deal.”

“Well it was a big deal to me, practically saved my life,” The red head smiled, grabbing a large cup and a sharpie “so what’s your name Tiger?”

Thomas’s stomach filled with a million butterflies at the mention of the familiar nickname before clearing his extremely dry throat, “Uh…Thomas…Sanders.”

The red head paused a moment, sharpie delicately poised over the edge of the coffee cup as he chewed over his bottom lip in thought. A ghost of a smile formed across his face, that seemed very familiar now that Thomas thought about it, giving out a breathless laugh. “Thomas Sanders, huh?”

“Uh, yeah?” Thomas knew that he got recognized often but by fans but it was usually by his face not by his name. Not to sound vain or anything but a lot of times he didn’t need to tell people who he was for them to recognize him. But this guy didn’t seem like he was a fan…still, he looked vaguely familiar.

“Well, I’m MJ, in case you didn’t notice.” He pointed to the name tag on his chest that Thomas was now just recognizing because he was too gay to look at anything else but this guys cute face.

“What does that stand for?” Thomas asked curiously.

He paused again before that same smile returned to his face, “Matthew Jones…Watson.”

“Matthew Jones Watson,” Thomas said aloud, rolling the words of his tongue as if testing out how they sound in his voice “MJ…I like it.”

And obviously that was a stupid thing to say aloud because it made him sound like some sort of weirdo who goes around judging names. But MJ giggled, light and airy, with a smile that could light up all of Manhattan. “Thanks…I’m glad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos!


	6. Even More Sibling Banter and Gay Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so it continues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom bitches! Guess who’s fucking back! Thank you all for your endless support and patients because that is truly the thing that motivates me to write this. The fact that you all are having fun and enjoying my story brings me so much joy! Once again, thank you to the brilliant sugarglider9603 and ask-spiderverse-virgil on Tumblr for creating this au, go show give them all the love in the world! Now please, ENJOY!!!

It was bound to be awkward for a while but this was just getting ridiculous. Ever since Virgil had stepped into Roman’s apartment, they hadn’t said a single word to each other, merely keeping to themselves and doing their half of the work. It wasn’t like Roman didn’t WANT to talk to Virgil it was just…him and Virgil had this really tense…relationship? No, not like that! Like in that way where you have no idea if you’re friends or not. Roman didn’t want to say something that might sound rude or be interpreted the wrong way and set Virgil off. It wasn’t like her was TRYING to be rude it’s just he kind of liked pushing Virgil’s buttons and he knew for a fact Virgil liked pushing his, they just had no idea where a line should be drawn. Unlike with him and Logan where it was a clash of ego vs ego, with Virgil it was like this sort of game.

“So…” Virgil said suddenly, causing Roman to jump a bit in surprise “…where are you in your part of the essay?”

Roman looked down at his notes before looking to scan his laptop at the Word document he had open, “Just about finished, about two or three more paragraphs. Then I’ll go over and edit out all the grammatical and spelling mistakes.”

“Cool,” Virgil nodded awkwardly “I’m about the same.”

“Cool.” Roman echoed.

Silence filled the room, even more awkward then before.

“Are you a witch?” Jenni asked. The boy turned to find the twins still hiding behind the couch, though it was less hiding and more hanging off the back of it.

“Excuse me?” Virgil asked, confused.

Roman wanted to scream but he didn’t, so instead he let the twins continue to embarrass him. For some reason lately Jenni has been really obsessed with witches, maybe it had to do with that girl, Scarlet Witch, that keeps showing up with the Avengers. She wasn’t as “scary” as the Black Widow so it was only natural for Jenni to gravitate towards her as an idol. Jenni repeated her question, “Are you a witch?”

“Of course, he’s not, dummy!” Marco snorted “He’s a boy! Only girls can be witches!”

“Harry Potter was a witch!” Jenni countered, getting up in Marco’s face.

“Nah-uh, he was a wizard, stupid!” Marco replied, just as stubborn.

“Roman, Marco called me a bad word!” Jenni screeched, pointing an accusing finger at her twin.

“Marco, that’s not very nice, apologize now,” Roman said firmly and just before his little brother could protest, he added “Or else I’m gunna tell mom.”

Marco grumbled a halfhearted apology before quickly returning to their current conversation topic, “So, are you a wizard?”

“Witch!” Jenni corrected.

Virgil chuckled behind his palm, seemingly amused by the commotion of everything. That was good, at least Roman thought so, Virgil was at least laughing and not running for the door. “Uh, I don’t know about wizard, the term is mainly used in European fairy tales mostly. Witches or witchcraft has been around for a much longer time and has many branches and history behind it while wizard is mostly in works of fiction.”

“So, you are a witch?” Jenni said excitedly with a smug side eye look towards her twin.

“Um, I don’t think witch is the politically correct term,” Virgil chuckled and Roman couldn’t help but join him “more then likely I’d be a Shaman or a Wu, a Chinese shaman, but I have absolutely no clue about either of those practices, so…no, sorry.”

Jenni pouted and Roman gasped in mock scandal, “Virgil! How could you crush my little sister’s dreams like that!”

“Hey, what did you want me to say?” Virgil snapped, though he was still smiling “I wasn’t going to lie to her!”

“Wait, there are other types of witches?” Marco pipped up curiously.

“Uh, yeah, kind of,” Virgil shrugged “it’s really more of a craft then a term; witchcraft, magick, shamanism, voodoo, hoodoo, and a lot of others. It varies from country to country but sometimes share certain elements with each other, be it religion or method of practice.”

“Geez, are you sure you’re not a witch?” Roman teased, reaching over to poke Virgil’s cheek.

Virgil rolled his eyes and swatted his hand away, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure?”

“Then how come you know all this stuff?” Roman chuckled.

“Cause it’s interesting,” Virgil replied somewhat defensively “not everyone is obsessed with Disney and musicals.”

“Hey, I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Roman said, putting his hands up in mock surrender “just that it’s not something people usual find interest in and that’s fine too.”

Virgil huffed, fiddling with the edge of his ever-present beanie, “Yeah, whatever.”

“I think it’s cool!” Jenni pipped up, cheerily.

“Me too!” Marco added just as enthusiastically “Roman’s just lame!”

“Hey.” Roman pouted and received the annoying sound of raspberries as payment from his younger brother. Virgil was laughing again, tension gone from his shoulders once more as he ran a hand under his beanie and through his hair. The flimsy hat slipped off the emo’s head and reviled something truly horrifying. The twins stopped their antics to openly stare and Roman’s eyes got wide in shock.

“What?” Virgil asked, obviously starting to freak out over everyone’s sudden silence and staring.

“Uh,” Roman cleared his throat nervously, carefully choosing his words “I want to preface this by saying I’m NOT trying to be rude or a jerk but…what happened to your hair?”

Finally realizing he was no longer wearing his beanie Virgil freaked, cheeks turning pink as he quickly flipped his hoodie over his head and pulled the strings tight. “N-nothing…”

“Well, it don’t seem like nothing,” Roman responded, waving his arm dramatically before pausing to think “…Is this like a medical thing? Because if it is I’m really-”

“No, n-no, no,” Virgil cut in “it’s just…I-I, um…m-my hand got, uh…stuck.”

Roman nodded slowly before realizing Virgil probably couldn’t see him at the moment, “Okay, and when was this?”

“When we found out, uh…” Virgil paused a moment, most likely thinking up a way to explain what happened without exposing themselves to Jenni and Marco who were still in the room, “…when we formed the club, in the morning, I had an…accident.”

“I see,” Roman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration “your telling me you had that monstrosity hidden under that tasteless beanie for three whole days? And you didn’t think to, I don’t know, ask your parents to help you fix it or have them take you to a barber?”

“Honestly,” Virgil sighed, sliding down under the coffee table enough so that he could rest his chin on it “I kind of forgot, to busy still freaking out over…the club, then I remembered, then I got embarrassed, then I just decided not to say anything so…yeah.”

How this boy was still alive and functioning in this world Roman will probably never know but that wasn’t important at the moment. What was important was that he let that hideous abomination atop of Virgil’s head enter his house (er, apartment) and Roman would not stand for it. Taking a breath Roman turned to the twins, “Jenni get the clipper bag, Marco get my brushes.”

“Okay.” They replied before scampering off to do as they were told.

“What’s happening?” Virgil asked, eyes wide with worry.

Roman stood up and stretched, “I’m going to fix that absolute sin you call hair. Come and sit in the kitchen, easier to clean the floor.”

Virgil scooted somewhat back, glaring at Roman pointedly, “Uh, thanks but no thanks. I rather not make it worse then what it is.”

Roman scoffed, rolling his eyes, “You’ll be fine Sweeny Toad, my mother used to be a hair dresser so I picked up a few things. Now come on,” He moved a seat from the dining table to the center of the kitchen “sit.”

Jenni and Marco soon returned with the clipper bag and brushes and sat back on the stools behind the counter as if waiting for a show to start. Virgil was still curled up like a feral cat and all that was left was for him to start hissing. Roman rolled his eyes once more, having dealt with bratty children (Read: the twins) before who didn’t want to sit still for their hair cut.

“Trust me,” Roman said “I cut and manage the twins’ hair all the time, you’ll be fine. If there is one thing I know NOT to mess with it’s hair.”

Virgil continued to glare at him and Roman sighed in response, “Come on, it can’t get any worse then what it is now. And if it does,” He raised the scissors in his hands and snipped the air “I’ll let you take a stab at me a payback. What do you say?”

Slowly Virgil uncurls from himself, sliding out from under the coffee table and standing to face them. Roman raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and Virgil raised one back in response, “If you f…mess up my hair I _will_ shave your head off.”

“Fine,” Roman shrugged, not at all startled by the threat “but you’re gunna have to sit in the chair so I can start.”

Virgil glared at him for a few more moments before his shoulders sagged in defeat and he dragged his feet towards the kitchen. Crossing his arms, the emo plopped down in the chair where Roman quickly pulled down his hoodie and grimaced. “Oh, you poor thing, why do you hate your hair so much?”

“Just get it over with.” Virgil grumbled and that was all the consent Roman needed to start trimming.

\---

The planetarium was huge, a large dome like ceiling with rows of seats spiraling inwards. The Quinn and Foster brothers took a seat near the center row with Patton and Logan sitting next to each other between everyone. Morgan gave Logan a sly smile and Logan was half tempted to elbow him again if he wasn’t worried about causing his brother possible internal damage from being hit twice at half force by a super human spider. He instead opted to punch his brother’s shoulder as lightly as he could possibly manage though it seemed not to be light enough for Morgan.

“Why must you hurt me?” Morgan whined, rubbing his sore shoulder.

“So, have you ever been to a planetarium show before?” Patton whispered, leaning in close to Logan.

“Uh, yes,” Logan replied, all to grateful for the dim room that covered his burning cheeks “but I have not seen this particular showing. I’ve been to others, much smaller but still just as captivating. Though when it comes to the vast wonders of space even the smallest shows can be an enjoyable experience.”

Patton smiled at him, still just as bright in the dim lighting, “I didn’t know you loved space so much.”

“I, uh,” Logan cleared his throat “I enjoy the subject of it, yes, it’s quite a fascinating topic.”

“If you like it so much then why don’t you join the astronomy club?” Patton asked curiously “One of my friends from culinary club, Valerie, is president of it, I’m sure they’d love a new member. They don’t get a lot of funding from the school because obviously,” Patton scoffed bitterly before perking up again “so they have to do a lot of fundraisers and I sometimes help out. But other than that, I heard it’s a lot of fun, currently they’re raising money to go to the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”

Logan felt giddy with excitement but he was quick to compose himself, “Uh, that sounds lovely Patton, but I fear that I am far too busy with my studies and other after school activities as it is to even consider joining.”

Patton pouted, much too adorable for his own good and Logan had half a mind to take back everything he said. “Oh, that’s too bad. But hey, if you ever just want to pop in and say hello, I’m sure they’d be delighted to talk to you. I’ll let Valerie know.”

“Thank you, Patton, I appreciate it,” Logan smiled shyly, the lights began to dim even more and a voice from the speakers announce that the program would begin momentarily. He felt Patton tense slightly beside him and instinctively placed his hand over Patton’s closed fist which rested on the arm rest between them. “Don’t worry, the shows about to begin.”

“Mmh.” Patton hummed and he relaxed as they laid back in their seats and watched as the projection of space illuminate the darkness, never once letting go of each other’s hands.

_“Way out here, ten million light years from planet Earth, every point of light is a galaxy containing billions of stars…”_

Logan gulped thickly as he felt Patton’s hand shift just a bit, splaying out his fingers so that they could gently intertwine with Logan’s. He continued to look up at the ceiling where the universe twinkled and shined before him, a kaleidoscope of technicolor and wonder. The deep charming voice of Neil deGrasse Tyson took them into a journey through the cosmos, exploring the vast reaches of space that now felt so close. But even with the mesmerizing display of stars in front of him Logan could do nothing but revile in the warmth of Patton’s hold. The warm and smooth caress of his delicate finger tips and the pumping pulse beneath his skin that let Logan know that he was alive and full of warmth and sweetness.

_“We’re flying through a three-dimensional atlas of millions of galaxies. The gaps are regions we have yet to map. Beyond every galaxy we could ever observe, farthest away in space and furthest back in time, the cosmic background radiation marks the visible edge of our observable universe…”_

He chanced a quick peek towards him, just something to settle his nerves and let him know that this was all real. Just as expected Patton was mesmerized by the vast array of stars swirling around and recreating their galaxy. Balls of gas and matter burned together to create planets within and out of their solar system, flashing burst of white and purple and blue and red and yellow. They filled the room with endless color and highlighted the tiny freckles across Patton’s skin which seemed to stand out like the all to familiar stars in the sky.

_“The motions of galaxies within each cluster confirm the presence of dark matter. The galaxies orbit too fast to be held together by the gravity of normal matter alone. Remove the dark matter… its lensing stops … and the cluster flies apart.”_

 “Have you ever been so terrified yet so amazed by something all at the same time?” Patton wondered aloud, voice soft and in awe, still gazing up at their exploding universe.

Logan’s eyes never looked away from him, “Yes, I have.”

_“As this time-lapse view of the Milky Way shows, stars explode fairly often—at a rate of about two per century in a galaxy like ours. So, if you observe enough galaxies, you can spot a new supernova every few nights…”_

Logan was absolutely in awe with everything about Patton, from his terrible puns to the certain tenderness he kept in his heart. He always saw the best in the world but he was realistic about it all too, but even then, he showed kindness to even the most god-awful people. He was smart and brave in ways people often over looked as being a naïve boy with dumb luck. Patton was far from perfect but he was still incredibly amazing as well as terrifying. He made Logan feel things, many things, he didn’t ever think possible. Sometimes it was too much, sometimes it was not enough, other times it was airy and light but it could also be heavy and make him want to throw up. Logan had been sure he’d get over this infatuation with Patton quickly then return to his life as if it were normal again. But of course, that didn’t happen.

_“Clearly there’s more to the universe than meets the eye. The Big Bang happened long ago but not far away. It happened here, there, and everywhere. Peering into the dark, we stand on the threshold of great discoveries—and we always will, as long as we keep exploring.”_

The roar of applause and florescent lights softly piercing the darkness quickly snapped Logan out of his daze. The warmth of Patton’s hand slipped out from under him as he too joined the audience in their up roar and all Logan could do was copy numbly. This was all very draining and headache inducing, way too many emotions for one day. All Logan wanted to do was go home and sleep.

“That was so cool!” Patton squealed, excitedly jumping up and down “I always thought this kind of stuff would be boring or too hard for me to understand but it was really fascinating. No wonder you like space so much!”

“Yes, well,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses “the wonders of space are vast and endless so there is much to learn.”

“And yet, we’ve only explored 5% of the ocean,” Alex pipped up as he scanned over a pamphlet “I mean not that this isn’t amazing and all but isn’t it a bit concerning that we barely know anything about what covers most of our planet yet know so much about what’s outside it?”

“If it’s oceanic life you’re looking for they have an environmental exhibit here on display,” Morgan said, checking over their own map “right across from us after the American mammals.”

“Oh, you can read this map?” Alex said, turning over his pamphlet every which way “Thank god because I have no idea what I’m doing. I honestly got lost earlier and met that cute front desk lady by mistake.”

“I want to see the birds,” Georgie announced lowly.

“Ah, that’s on the second floor next to the African culture hall,” Morgan said helpfully “anything else?”

Logan sighed tiredly as Alex jumped at the opportunity, “Yeah, yeah, we should go see that, uh, dinosaur exhibit, I wanted to see that t-rex mother fucker.”

“That’s on the third floor,” Morgan said as he flipped through the map “right next to-”

“Guys,” Patton gently interrupted “they probably have their own plans for the evening. We don’t need to force them to be tour guides for us, we can find our own way around.”

“Aw, come on Pat,” Alex whined “we already got them here, might as well take advantage of those big brains of theirs. Could use a bit of relaxing from solving all the worlds problems by taking us shmucks on a tour. They already know how to use a map!”

Another quick smack across the head from Georgie had him shutting up, “Patton’s right, we should leave them alone.”

“Well, I don’t really mind,” Morgan admitted and Logan was now fully considering throwing caution to the wind and elbowing him again “what about you Lo?”

Just when Logan was about to shut down the idea and demand to go home Patton spoke up, big brown eyes on full display. Oh no. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Lo. I’m sure we can find our way around no problem.”

“He lies!” Alex stage whispered, receiving another smack from Georgie.

Honestly, how was Logan going to ever say no to those eyes? Swallowing thickly Logan quietly murmured, “Is…there a particular exhibit you’re interested in, Patton?”

Patton’s smile was shy yet still beautiful and radiant, “Are you sure?”

Logan could only nod, much to afraid of his own voice.

“I…I would actually like to look at some of the environmental exhibits,” Patton admitted bashfully “anything with plants and flowers really.”

“That be right next to the oceanic exhibit,” Morgan announced “we can look through everything here on the first floor if you want before heading on up?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Alex exclaimed as he marched forward “Onwards troops!”

Georgie and Morgan trailed close behind with Logan in the back with Patton who rolled his eyes before shrugging and smiling tiredly, “I’m sorry in advance for whatever he does.”

“As am I with my own brother.” Logan chuckled as they made their way out of the planetarium, side by side and close enough that their swinging hands casually brushed against each other every once and a while.

\---

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?” Thomas asked worriedly. As promised MJ had given Thomas a drink with the works on the house before leading him towards a table near the back where MJ then proceeded to sit down with him. MJ untied his apron and threw it behind his seat before untucking his shirt and ruffling his already messy red hair. They danced like flames of ember and framed his freckled face perfectly.

“Uh, I don’t think there’s much work to do,” MJ chuckled, gesturing to the nearly empty coffee shop “unless you have somewhere important to me and want me to get out of your hair.”

“N-no, no,” Thomas stuttered “not for a while at least but I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I’ll be fine,” MJ smirked, chin in hand as he leaned forward “I want to get to know my unconventional savior a bit more.”

Thomas was sure he’d permanently gone red, was flirting just how this guy spoke all the time? Thomas’s heart was not prepared for such onslaught of complements, “I’m not much to know.”

“There’s always much to know,” MJ laughed “especially with two strangers. But that’s usually easy because we’re both blank canvasses to each other so we just got to start painting.”

Thomas hesitated for a moment, “Do you work here often?”

Nice going loser…

MJ laughed again, beautiful and bell like, “Just temporary for the moment, I’m studying to be a nurse actually.”

“Oh, really,” Thomas said, actually kind of surprised that a guy who constantly puts himself in harms way would become someone that stiches up those kind of people “do you enjoy it?”

“Yeah,” MJ shrugged “it’s hard work but I like helping people. Plus, I don’t need to worry about going to the hospital every time I get into a scrap, I’ll be able to mend myself.”

Thomas huffed out an airy laugh, “I think you should be avoiding fight, you know?”

“Oh, I do,” MJ assured with a smirk “it’s just they can’t seem to avoid me. But lady luck must be on my side because she practically granted me a guardian angel. Well, guardian…spider? I don’t really know honestly.”

Thomas willed his cheeks to not flush more crimson as he asked, “Why do you think that?”

“You’re not gunna believe this but,” MJ rubbed the back of his neck nervously “I’ve kind of been saved by Rainbow Weaver a bit _too_ many times. Poor guy, I must make his job a living hell if he has to keep dealing with me twice a week.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t mind,” Thomas said, casually sipping his drink “I mean, he is a hero so it’s his job to look out for people. I’m sure you’re fine and not a bother at all.”

MJ raised a suspicious eyebrow before smiling wide, “And how would you know that? Have you met him or something?”

“Maybe once or…twice,” Thomas fibbed “he’s a pretty chill dude so I assume he wouldn’t mind much.”

“Really?” MJ chuckled then took a deep sigh “Still, I really do tend to get into a lot of trouble.”

 _Yeah, no shit!_ Thomas added in his brain but smiled sympathetically on the outside, “I kind of get what you mean, I…admittingly, have a tendency to run into danger myself sometimes.”

“I can see that,” MJ teased “Mr. I-can-disarm-a-gun-single-handedly!”

He smiled sheepishly, hiding behind the rim of his coffee cup, “To be honest, a friend of mine showed me that move so I really can’t take all the credit.”

MJ pouted, cute and dramatic, “Are you denying my praise and admiration? How dare you, sir! I gave you free coffee and I only ever do that to big shot heroes!” A sly wink followed soon after “And good looking guys, both help, really.”

Thomas choked on his coffee, pounding his chest to bring back air into his lungs. Meanwhile, MJ giggled in delight at the sight of Thomas is misery and embarrassment, although he did lean forward to pat Thomas’s back. Once semi functioning MJ giggled again, leaning down to meet Thomas at eye level and the greying man had to control himself so that he wouldn’t go into another coughing fit. Steel blue eyes sparkled in amusement, “A bit too much?”

Thomas cleared his throat, “Maybe a little…sorry, I’ve, uh, never been…well, I haven’t been…”

“Flirted with?” MJ finished with a giggle “I find that very hard to believe.”

Thomas shrugged, “I-I mean, at least not with a really cute guy that apparently need to get saved twice a week.”

Now it was MJ’s turn to blush, freckles on full display like little constellations in the night sky. A goofy smile spreading across the red head’s face as he bit his bottom lip, “Maybe I need somebody to watch my back. Rainbow Weaver can’t be there all the time.”

“What makes you think I’m even qualified for the job?” Thomas asked with a shy shrug.

“Because you’re sweet,” MJ smiled “and you were willing to risk your life for a stranger.”

“I mean, I did get free coffee out of it,” Thomas smirked causing MJ to snort “plus, we’re hardly strangers, I know your name now and you know mine. And I also know that you’re studying to be a nurse! I’m pretty sure a stranger wouldn’t know that.”

“No, he wouldn’t, you’re right we’re practically lifelong friends,” MJ laughed, turning back to his apron at the back of his seat and digging through the pockets. He pulled out a black sharpie and took Thomas’s coffee cup to scribble over. “So, with that being established I think it is appropriate now for you…to have my number? And maybe…I could have yours?”

Thomas could only squeak out a wheezing, “Sure.”

\---

“There, all done.” Roman put down the scissors on the counter and unwrapped the plastic wrap from around Virgil’s body. He dusted it off and proceeded to fold it as he circled around Virgil with a critical eye.

Virgil was been tense the entire time Roman was cutting his hair, he didn’t want to move even a centimeter for the fear Roman may actually fuck up. Jenni and Marco kept up casual conversation to keep him distracted, continuing to ask him about witches and what he knew about them. The were nice kids, definitely had Roman’s big personality, but still very sweet plus, they knew how to get under Roman’s skin and Virgil respected that. Then it was over and all of Virgil’s previous worries came flooding back all at once.

“How bad did you mess it up?” Virgil asked worriedly.

Roman scoffed, handing him a hand mirror before going off to sweep the kitchen, “Honestly, have a little more confidence in me.”

Virgil tentatively peered into the mirror to see what irreversible horrors awaited him. To his surprise it was actually a really nice cut, the left side was cut short in a smooth gradient sort of way while the right side was left longer and framed itself around his eye. It was a bit messy but Virgil guessed it was supposed to be that way, keeping to his aesthetic and all, but overall, he actually really liked it.

Virgil looked back up to give Roman his thanks and apologize for ripping on him earlier but froze to find that Roman was staring at him and frowning. Jesus, was he really that upset about Virgil not believing he could cut hair? “Uh, I actually kind of dig it so don’t worry about-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that you like it,” Roman waved him off, leaning up against the counter as he continued to glare at him “I am amazing after all. It’s just now that I look at you I’m kind of pissed.”

“I’m sorry.” Virgil apologized, though for what he didn’t know.

“I like his hair cut!” Marco announced.

“Me too!” Jenni added “He looks cute!”

Virgil flushed red and Roman finally burst, “That’s the problem! I was honestly vouching for him to look at least semi-decent but he actually pulls off this look!”

“W-what?” Virgil squeaked.

What was happening? What was going on? Roman was complementing him but was also pissed at him. That is a very weird combination of emotions to be had as well as to receive.

“You look cute,” Roman stated plainly and narrowed his eyes “and I hate you because of it.”

“Why?” Virgil was starting to get a bit frustrated because he’s pretty sure all the blood in his body has redirected itself to his face. Also, what the hell was Roman’s deal?

“Because you’re an emo nightmare and you’re not supposed to be cute!” Roman replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well, excuse me!” Virgil snapped.

“No, you shall not be excused because how dare you!” Roman exclaimed dramatically “How dare you have the audacity to be cute so flawlessly while the rest of us have to work for it every day!”

Virgil groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration, “What is wrong with you?”

“A lot of things really.” The twins said at the same time and if Virgil weren’t so thoroughly frustrated at the moment, he might have thought it was creepy.

“Zip it, Fred and George!” Roman snarked and was responded with two sets of loud raspberries.

Virgil ran a hand through his newly cut hair and sighed deeply, “Look, thank for the haircut, sorry you hate it, I’m gunna leave now.”

He began to make his way towards the living room but Roman was quick to catch his arm, “Wait, we aren’t finished with our essay.”

“It’s good enough,” Virgil snapped, taking his arm back “plus, I don’t very much want to sit here and be insulted for my hair, which by the way you cut.”

“I don’t hate your hair Virgil,” Roman replied with a laugh “I’m saying that you’re cute and that I’m frustrated about it because you put zero effort into it. Meanwhile, yours truly has to moisturize every night, put product in my hair, and still do my make-up to at least look decent for the day!”

Virgil glared at Roman, he had no idea what to make of this boy. One minute he’s insulting him then he’s complementing him, he’s nice then he’s a jerk and the cycle continues. Virgil doesn’t get him or how he functions! Roman was so frustrating and flipped flopped emotions so quick Virgil’s head was dizzy. Contrary to popular beliefs Virgil was just as bad at social cues as Logan was so he had no clue how to tell when Roman was joking or not!

Finally, Virgil said, “That’s stupid!”

“Ooo, you said a bad word!” The twins cried.

“Silence demons!” Virgil snarked and the little monsters straight up hissed at him “Like I was saying, that’s stupid! Why the hell are you even worried about that? I’m not even…I’m not…”

Virgil couldn’t even finish the statement it was so ridiculous. He wasn’t cute damn it! Roman was just being weird and dramatic like always! He just wanted to see Virgil flustered and embarrassed, well, that’s not going to happen! Virgil refused to be made a fool of again!

“You’re cute! Admit it!” Roman smirked, because he’s a stubborn jerk who won’t admit he’s wrong.

“I am not!” Virgil groaned, arms crossed and no, he was not pouting! “You’re just an idiot!”

“You’re basically a tiny kitten,” Roman snickered “at first glance people might mistake you for this great big jungle cat-”

“Because it’s true!” Virgil stomped.

“But really you’re just an adorable little kitty cat.” Roman laughed, easily dodging Virgil’s attempt to punch him. Virgil then proceeded to chase Roman around the apartment while the theatrical teen laughed and continued to dodge his attacks. All the while the twins chanted, “Virgil is a kitty! Virgil is a kitty!”

“I am not!”

\---

Overall, Patton was glad Logan and his brother was able to say with them a bit longer, they were pretty great tour guides, Logan especially though maybe Patton was a bit biased. Morgan mainly hung around Georgie and Alex, answering all their questions and helping defuse Alex’s plans on climbing up on one of the dinosaur’s displays. Meanwhile, Logan and Patton were practically left to their own devices, which Patton was perfectly fine with, Logan knew a lot of neat stuff and provided insightful in formation on every exhibit. It would have been perfect if Alex didn’t keep giving him suggestive winks plus and enthusiastic thumbs up though Patton is about 85% sure he saw Morgan do the same thing earlier.

He flushed red at the thought of it, was his crush on Logan really that obvious? Did they see him and Logan holding hands during the planetarium show? Patton was going to let go, he swears, it’s just Logan’s hand felt so nice and warm immensely calming Patton’s nerves when everything suddenly got dark. So, he just kind of left it there, Logan didn’t seem to notice or at least Patton thinks he didn’t. Patton was focusing too hard on watching the show and acting as casual as possible.

It was dark in there so Patton didn’t worry about anyone seeing his flushed face but that was now not the case for the rest of the museum. Thankfully, Logan was too enraptured by all the museum’s exhibits to fully pay attention to Patton’s constantly blushing face. Patton had to repress a dreamy sigh threatening to escape him as he watched Logan ramble on and on about animals from the Cretaceous period, he really did look best when talking about the things he was passionate about.

Okay, so like maybe, this all kind of, sort of looked like a date? If you could count a date involving your two older brothers and your crush is brother babbling in front of them as he and Logan trail behind. It was like a very chaperoned date…in Patton’s head at least. It was silly to think off it like that, he knew, but the whole atmosphere of the evening left Patton feeling all fluttery and excited. Even if it wasn’t just the two of them Patton still felt this sort of intimacy between them and, maybe, the sense that Logan might like him back.

Patton didn’t know how much control he had over these empathetic powers of his, Joan and Talyn had turned them off after that whole experiment thing, saying how they were supposed to grow and come in naturally. But aside from that when he and Logan were holding hands during the planetarium show Patton swore he felt tiny slivers of something warm and familiar. Little sparks of pleasure he knew he felt before every time their hands brush. But he really couldn’t be sure so Patton continued to smile and accidently bump against Logan’s shoulder as they walked through the entire museum and into the gift shop.

As usually the elder brothers left the youngers to their own devices more then likely to stop Alex from flirting with the cashier lady. There were many interesting educational toys and items such as candy rock making kits, puzzles, fossil digging cubes, layered mineral rocks, arrow heads and an assortment of other items. Of course, Patton went straight towards the large bins filled with plushies, with Logan not far behind.

“Why is there a monkey in a space suit?” Patton asked, picking up the soft plush toy from one of the large square bins.

“Before sending human up into space they sent animals,” Logan explained “mainly monkeys and apes since they closely resemble our genealogy.”

There were lots of other plushies in the bin such as dinosaurs, birds, and other animals as well as plants, rocks, ships, and planets with cute little faces on them. Patton grabbed a tiny smiling blue ball with specks of white and brought it up to eye level. “I’m guessing this little guy is Pluto, I’m surprise that he’s even here.”

“Well, some people still consider it a planet,” Logan said in a sort of adorably huffy manner before bashfully shrugging “or maybe it’s left over from previous stock long ago.”

Patton giggled, “And where do you stand on the Pluto debate?”

Logan adjusted his glasses critically, “Calling it a dwarf planet is just saying it’s a planet but smaller then average. It has its own moon as well as the other necessities to be a planet but just because of its size it is diminished to dwarf planet.”

“Wow, you have a lot to say on the matter,” Patton smirked delighted by the endearing flush that painted Logan’s cheeks. He reached to pick up another plushie, this one a robot of sorts, “What’s this?”

“That’s the Opportunity rover,” Logan pipped up quickly “Oppy, as some people have nicked named her, she was sent to scan and observe the surface of Mars. She was accompanied by her twin Sprit but he unfortunately got stuck in a sand trap and has cease function. She was only supposed to function for 90 days but excided that by 14 years and 46 days.” Logan frowned a bit, a glimmer of sadness in his eye before he quickly shook it off, “Soon, after in 2012 they sent the Curiosity rover and as of now it is the only one still active out of the three of them.”

“Aw, does that mean he’s up there all by himself now?” Patton said mournfully, holding the little robotic plushie close to his chest.

“Unfortunately, so,” Logan responded blankly “but even so, we will surely have Curiosity functioning for a number of years more. So, we’ll still have plenty of more time to explore the surface of Mars before we inevitably launch there ourselves.”

“But he’ll still be all alone for years and years,” Patton pouted “that can’t be a pleasant experience even for a robot. Just being all on your own on a seemingly lifeless planet with nobody there to talk to you or comfort you when your sad.”

Logan gave a half smirk, amusement glittering in his eyes, “I’m sure he’ll be fine, he can still communicate back and forth with mission control here on Earth. So, it’s kind of like always having someone on call with a one-way video face time.”

“That is a little better,” Patton hummed thoughtfully “but still, the thought of being completely alone in the vastness of space…kind of freaks me out.”

“Well, thankfully you’re not alone,” Logan said warmly, his smirk now stretching into a shy yet honest smile “you’re here on Earth with very many people who care about you.”

Patton flushed pink but smiled back none the less, “Yeah, I guess so.”

They all finished making their purchases before making their way towards the exit. The crowed had thinned out immensely as evening dwindled into night and what people remained were slowly but surely making their way out. Once again the elders tailed up front talking away while Logan and Patton lingered behind discussing the concept of human awareness and if one day robots will be able to gain this awareness.

“Like, I’m not saying a robot uprising in the sense that they’ll enslave and kill us,” Patton explained, hands gesturing wildly “but something similar to protests and political campaigns that fought for equal rights. If they’re beings of intellect then they’ll know that violence will get them nowhere and hurt their cause more then help it.”

“Wow, you have a lot to say on the matter.” Logan teased.

Patton shrugged shyly, rubbing the back of his neck, “I just…think sci-fi has demonized the why humans will react to other species coming into contact with us. I mean, we aren’t complete monsters and usually the species we’ll ‘supposedly’ interact with aren’t either.”

“Hmm, you do have a point,” Logan nodded “though honestly if they do end up attacking us, I’m pretty sure we deserved it one way or another.”

Patton snorted, “Probably.”

It happened quickly, a buzzing at the back of his head and a burst of color flashing over his eyes. A voice in his head told him to hold down the back of his skirt and side step forward quickly, so that’s just what he did. When Patton turned around to look, he saw a man on his knees with his arm twisted around behind him by a very furious looking Logan.

“Fuck, let go!” The man wheezed out, another man nearby jogged towards them “Jesus, man lay off!”

Logan payed no mind to what they said, only looked to the man on his knees as he seemed to put more pressure on his arm and lowly asked, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I didn’t do nothing!” The man whined, trying and failing to get out of Logan’s solid hold “Get off me you freak!”

“Fuck off dude!” The man’s friend replied, taking half a step forward before freezing under Logan’s glare. “Clearly, he is lying. Because from what I gathered by the precarious position I caught him in was that he was about to pull up my friend’s skirt.”

“I said I didn’t do anything!” The man cried.

“No, but you were going to.” Logan growled, seeming to increase the pressure on the man’s arm.

Patton heard a commotion behind him and turned to find his brothers and Morgan racing back towards them with a security guard hot on their tale. They seemed to be trying to out run the security man and were quick to circle around them as if to block out anymore preying eyes.

“Logan, let him go!” Morgan whispered harshly and, almost reluctantly, Logan complied, the man dropping to the floor clutching his arm. The man’s friend rushed to help him to his feet while Logan still stood by, arms crossed and glaring daggers.

“What the hell is going on?” Georgie demanded.

“That’s what I would like to know.” The security guard pipped up from behind them. Immediately, the man points an accusing finger at Logan, “Officer, this man physically assaulted me!”

“Falsehood!” Logan snapped.

“You were going to pull up my skirt!” Patton shrieked, finally able to find his voice again. He was not going to get Logan in trouble again on his behalf.

“I didn’t fucking do anything, you stupid fag!” The man snapped.

“The fuck did you say!” Alex growled, surging forward to grab the man by the front of his shirt. Had he not Patton was sure Logan and Georgie were close to do so as well.

Patton felt a pit in his stomach, everything was turning into chaos all because of him, again. Why couldn’t he say anything? Why couldn’t he do anything? Why did he have to be such a big baby and cause trouble? How ironic for someone training to be a hero to always get put into situations like this yet isn’t able to save himself. How pathetic.

“Hey, hey, settle!” The security guard commanded, quickly getting in between both men “Now, what I see here is we got two options. One: someone can fess up and give me the real story or two: we can check the security camera, it wouldn’t take too long.”

At the mention of cameras, the two men paled and Logan smirked, the security guard looked tired and seemed to want to be anywhere but here. “If what the young man said was true then _you_ _two_ were the ones committing assault and this other young man here was merely acting in self-defense for his companion.”

“He almost broke my arm!” The main fiend complained.

“I didn’t even _do_ anything!” The other barked, pointing a few feet away “I was standing over there!”

“You were more than likely an accomplice and bared witness to the crime without bothering to interfere,” Morgan quipped, speaking up after his long time silent observation, a calculated look in his eyes “I’ll bet if we look at the camera footage we’ll be able to see you two conspiring together to humiliate my friend like some god damn children before playing rock, paper, scissors or double dog daring one another to go do it. Am I hitting the ball park here? And while I’m at it I’ve been looking through your guys is records and this isn’t your first offence.”

Stepping forward like some sort of professional high security secretary, Morgan pulled up his phone for all to see. There, side by side, were photos of the two men along with their names, contacts, and crimes they’ve been charged for. Patton was pretty sure the two men were nearing the process of passing out their faces were so pale, while Morgan seemed to mimic Logan’s smirk.

“Drunken violence, public indecency, property damage on multiple charges, as well as, surprise, surprise, physical and sexual assault,” Morgan listed off as he continued to scroll through his phone “My, my, you boys have been busy. Now with all of these charges in mind please, pray tell, what were you two thinking when you decided to pull up an _under-age_ boy’s skirt in a high security museum? Or are you that stupid?”

They spat and sputtered but to no avail, not only was one of them caught red handed they had the odds stacked against them. Morgan provided no form of mercy, “Yeah, that’s what I thought, not to worry the police should be here any-” The front entrance was open and four officers came running in “Oh, there they are.”

The men tried in vain to run but the police were able to easily tackle them down while the security guard ushered them all to the side, more then likely waiting to be questioned. Patton felt a bit numb, not really sure if what happened was real or not, there was a lot of energy and emotions in the air and it all gave him a headache. Warm fingers tangled between his and Patton was suddenly brought back to the ground and looking into Logan’s dark eyes.

“Are you okay?” Logan asked, brow frowned in worry.

Patton nodded slowly, “Yeah, thanks.”

“Dude, how were you able to do that? With like the phone and the records and the police and stuff?” Alex exclaimed gesturing to the men being led away in cuffs. Morgan winked mischievously, “Ah, a true computer genius hacker never gives away his secrets…er, phone computer genius hacker? Uh, basically a long story short I did a thing that I will explain to you later because it is, ahem, semi-illegal.”

They all side eyed the security guard who merely shook his head and shrugged. Another officer came by a few minutes later relieving the poor security guard of his duties so as to ask questions. They were all pretty standard: what happened? Why did it happen? Do you want to press charges? Everybody jumped to say yes but honestly Patton didn’t want to deal with anything anymore, he just wanted to go home. Morgan, ever the mystery man genius, said he would willingly handle all the legal stuff so that Patton didn’t have to do anything but sign a few papers, saying how he had a friend who he graduated with who works in the criminal justice system. Usually, Patton didn’t like to bother people and he was trying this whole new thing about fighting for himself but he really, really did not want to deal with complex legal stuff. He also did not want to stress out his family more then they probably already were going to be then he needed too. So, he and his brothers graciously accepted his help.

“You know young man,” The officer said in that adult tone of voice used to scold children “maybe you shouldn’t be wearing a skirt out in public? Would give you an easier time and call much less attention to yourself.”

Okay, so Patton has moved on from tired and pitiful to kind of pissed off, “Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying,” The officer said gently, as if it would make this situation any better “if you were to wear more proper clothes, you’d have less trouble and this situation probably would not have happened.”

He felt Logan’s fingers curl tightly against his, body tensed and ready to jump to Patton’s defense and rescue one more. But Patton was getting really tired of having to be rescued all the time, not that he didn’t appreciated it especially from Logan, but her was getting quite fed up with everything right about now.

“Well, it shouldn’t have happened at all!” Patton said firmly, not really shouting but voice still loud and clear “Regardless of how I dress or how anyone dresses nobody should ever be treated like this! Instead of telling me how I should dress ‘properly’ maybe you should start doing your job and telling people it’s not okay to harass someone just because they’re different or dress a certain way or act a certain way or whatever?”

The officer frowned disapprovingly, like a teacher towards a failing student, but he was no teacher he was an idiot. “Sir, I’m merely suggesting a-”

“I don’t want your suggestions!” Patton snapped “I want to live my life just like everybody else in the world without being bullied or harassed or called names or being shamed just because I’m alive!”

Stunned silence filled the room and Patton just knew that all eyes were on him, surprised and in awe that sweet little Patton would snap at an authority figure. It all would have been quite overwhelming for him if he didn’t have Logan’s fingers intertwined with his and his steady stream of fire and calmness filling his senses. A weird mix of feelings but useful in helping ground Patton and not have him blow up completely. He chanced a quick peek at Logan from the side of his eye and saw a wide and seemingly proud smile stretched across his face.

“I think we’re done here,” Georgie announced, leaving no room for argument “there seems to not be anymore questions you guys need so we’ll just leave.”

“We’ll be in contact, I assure you?” Morgan added as he ushered everyone towards the front exit.

“Our people will call your people.” Alex winked, throwing finger guns at the officer.

They quickly made it to the parking area where they exchanged pleasantries and goodnights before having to part. Georgie and Alex thanked Morgan and Logan immensely for their help, Morgan for handling all the legal stuff and calling the police and Logan for being there to stop the creep. Both Quinn brothers seemed to flush red at the complements and praise, assuring it wasn’t that big of a deal and that they were happy to help. But just before they could part ways Logan thrusted his gift bag towards Patton.

“I, um, thought you might like it,” Logan murmured, avoiding eye contact “I was going to give it to you earlier but, uh, that…happened.”

Patton smiled, happily accepting it before handing over his own gift bag to Logan, “I got you something too.”

“Oh, y-you didn’t – I mean, thank you.” Logan reached for the bag and Patton, once again, did something very bold. He firmly took Logan’s hand, pulled him forward, and gently kissed his cheek.

Patton was quick to pull back, face flushed pink but still smiling, “Thanks for saving me again, you seem to be having to do that a lot.”

Logan was silent for a moment, eyes wide and a careful hand placed over the cheek Patton just kissed. He quickly shook out of his daze, “I-it’s no problem…I’ll always be there if you need me. That is what friends do, correct?”

“Yeah,” Patton giggled “and I’ll be there if you ever need me too, okay?”

Logan nodded vigorously, “Affirmative.”

There was a car honk behind them and Alex is annoying voice yelling across the parking lot, “Come on lover boy, Ma want’s us home soon!”

There was an audible smack and a whiny “ow!” soon thereafter. Patton sighed and smiled apologetically towards Logan before dropping his hand and slowly walking backwards. “I gotta go, see you at school?”

“Uh, yeah, see you.” Logan replied, awkwardly waving his hand.

Patton couldn’t help but giggle and wave back before turning to rush towards the car. Alex booked it out of the parking lot, all the while teasing Patton about his little moment with Logan. But Patton wasn’t really paying attention, instead he was curiously looking inside the bag Logan gave him and found a robotic plushie. At first Patton had assumed it to be Oppy but the design was different so he looked at the tag attached to it and saw that it said Curiosity with a bit of scribbled handwriting at the bottom.

_Surely, he will not feel as lonely now that he’s with you. -L.Q._

Patton bit down on his lip to hold back a squeal threatening to burst out of him as he hugged the little robot close to his heart.

\---

Virgil left an hour before his mother and sister were due home and the twins whined the whole while not wanting him to leave. They had both latched on to Virgil’s legs and it took Roman an embarrassingly long time to pry them off, with Virgil teasing him the whole time. He left soon after and Roman sat the twins down and scolded them for their behavior, such actions might have been fine with Patton but Virgil was different, especially when it came to physical touch. Although, it didn’t seem like he had minded Roman told the twins if ever he came back that they should ask before engaging in any physical contact.

They seemed to understand well enough and that was all Roman needed before he was ushering them to take a shower and change for bed. Obviously, it didn’t go that easy without a bit of fighting so by the time his mother and sister got back home the twins were freshly bathed, wrestled into their pajamas, and Roman was currently combing his Jenni’s hair while Marco played with his cars.

“Como te fue? ¿Se comportaron los niños?” His mother asked, peeking into the room with Leslie right behind her. They looked tired, hair a mess and dark circles around their eyes.

“It went fine,” Roman replied, finishing Jenni’s hair and tying it off in a simple braid “the twins were fine and we were able to finish everything.”

“Aye, que bien.” She replied.

“Roman’s got a boyfriend!” Jenni announced loudly “And he’s totally a secret witch even though he says he isn’t! But I know!”

Roman squeaked as he pulled his little sister to his chest and clapped a hand over her mouth, “You shush! Time for bed!”

“¡Romano tiene novio! ¡Romano tiene novio!” Marco chanted as he began to jump up and down on his bed.

“Shut it, you little demon!” Roman growled, face aflame.

“Marco no jumping on the bed,” Leslie scolded before a sly smirk crossed her face “and Roman, why didn’t you tell us it was your boyfriend coming over? We could of sent the twins off to their friends how so you two could have some alone time.”

“It’s not like that at all!” Roman shrieked “W-we’re just friend who made a club together, that’s all!”

“Ay, pero Romano, ¿por qué no lo invitaste a cenar para que podemos conocerlo adecuadamente? Quiero asegurarme de que va a ser bueno para mi pequeño príncipe.” His mother giggled along with the rest of his family and Roman really wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

\---

Thomas on a roof of a shop near a familiar alley way in full Rainbow Weaver gear. He had just finished making a full sweep around the city an hour ago and decided to take a quick brake before doing another one. He quietly observed the familiar little café across the street and the familiar red head wiping down the tables one last time.

Thomas had stayed to talk to MJ a while more before an influx of customers suddenly made there way in for a late after work coffee run. MJ now suddenly had plenty of work to do and Thomas suddenly remembered that he had a city to be patrolling. They reluctantly parted ways, Thomas sputtering like a fool while MJ was as charming and as cool as ever. He was lucky that he packed a bag with him and stuck his Rainbow Weaver gear onto a nearby building or else he’d have to be fumbling back home and explain to Joan and Talyn why he hadn’t been patrolling the city for two whole hours. He wasn’t ready for the teasing sure to come when they eventually find out that he had been distracted by a cute boy who worked in a coffee shop and that he saves twice a week.

Speaking of, said cute boy was walking out of the coffee shop now, smiling down at his phone as he typed away at something or another. Thomas suddenly felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket and he was quick to pull it out and see a new texts message.

 **MJ <3:** i think i’ll take a different route home today ;-)

Thomas looked back up to watch and sure enough instead of crossing the street MJ turned right towards a much safer part of town. Thomas couldn’t help feel a bit bummed out that he wouldn’t be able to have another possible interaction with MJ again tonight but he was much more happy that MJ took his advice to a safer path home.

 **Thomas:** Good choice! Get home safely :)

 **MJ <3:** Sure thing tiger! <3

\---

Virgil had stomped all the way home grumbling to himself. Stupid Roman and his demon siblings kept teasing him the whole time he was there, though admittingly it was kind of fun. Especially since the twins were always willing to turn head on their older brother real fast. They eventually finished the essay and just kind of spent the whole evening bickering and answering Jenni’s curious questions about witches until Virgil had to go back home. He was surprised when they both latched on to his legs and begged him not to leave but soon became amused as he watched Roman struggle to pull them off.

Despite Roman’s entire personality in general he was a good brother and a good person at heart. He just tends to rub people the wrong way (mainly Virgil) sometimes, he was loud and brash, and spoke before he thought. But he wasn’t out right awful, nor was he terrible to be around just very, very annoying. Virgil still didn’t know what to make of Roman and their weird teasing back and forth but he could for sure say that it was…good. For now, at least.

His parents questioned him about the hair cut as soon as he got home and he truthfully told them what happened, not wanting to lie to them if he didn’t have to. They really didn’t mind and actually liked the hair but told him that he really should call them next time and ask for permission before letting his friend cut his hair.

He quickly promised and tiredly slipped in to his room where he was greeted by an excited JD, as always. After feeding and placing fresh water in his tank Virgil kicked off his shoes and proceeded to flop into bed, fully prepared to just sleep. Then his phone pinged!

 **Idiot:** u will now be happy to know that I have now changed ur contact name to Nyan Cat!

 **Nyan Cat:** fuck you!

 **Idiot:** mmh not now maybe later ;-P

Virgil cheeks flushed red, growling as he began to furiously type back a reply. He took back every nice thing he said about the moron, he was the worst!

\---

Morgan and Logan of course had to inform their parents about the situation that happened on their evening out. They weren’t freaking out as much as the late time Logan got in trouble but they were still worried none the less. They scolded Logan for his rush into violence but also commended him for protecting his friend from danger. For some reason Morgan did not mention to them about his part in the whole fiasco but instead gave them a vague summery of what went down. He was kind of glad for that, not that Morgan didn’t deserve credit, because he really did work wonders today, but Logan did not want to go another round of compare and contrast between him and his brother.

Logan sluggishly made his way into his room, completely drained from the whole outing. From the walking to the socializing and large crowed of the museum Logan was both physically and mentally drained. But as he looked down at the gift bag still in his hand and the warmth that blossomed in his chest, he couldn’t help but think it wasn’t _too_ bad. A few minor complications but overall the part before the incident and after were pretty great. His cheeks were warm as he ran a finger over the spot where Patton had kissed him and he couldn’t help but let out a dreamy sigh.

Curiosity finally got the better of him and Logan quickly reached into the bag and pulled out a familiar soft round ball, pale blue with white specks and a cute smiling face. He smiled to himself before noticing the neat loopy hand writing on the end of the tag.

_Viva la Pluto! <3_

Logan was sure that he had a big goofy smile spread across his face by now and was so glad that he was alone in his room. Though he was soon snapped out of his warm and fuzzy day dream by the ping and vibration of his phone. He quickly fished it out of his pocket honestly expecting it to Virgil ready to complain about the god-awful time he had over at Roman’s place but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Patton.

 **Patton:** the moon is smiling tonight! :)

Logan peeked out his window and sure enough was in its waxing crescent formation which edged near the bottom, looking like a giant smile in the night sky. Logan chuckled softly to himself as he quickly typed out a reply.

 **Lolo:** So, it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos!


	7. The Joan and Talyn Episode!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joan and Talyn spend time with our Spiderboys, helping them with their powers and designing suits!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *nervously sweating* Heeeey guys, it’s been a while huh? I’ve been busy with a lot of shit and my mental health has not been the best for my motivation. But I’m kind of sorta back on that grind and am going to try my best! So like I have a Ko-fi now so you can go support me there if you’d like or if you’re interested I’m Open for Commissions on Tumblr! Once more I would like to thank the wonderful sugarglider9603 and ask-spiderverse-virgil on Tumblr for their endless inspiration, you two are the best! ENJOY!!!
> 
> (TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of anxiety and anxiety attacks, nothing bad happens though I swear!)

“It’s true!” Roman huffed.

“No, it isn’t!” Logan groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

It was training time again and the boys plus Thomas had gathered on the roof of their usual abandon building to stretch out. They have been training for about two and a half weeks now and Thomas had to admit they were learning pretty fast, a few tweaks and bumps but nothing they wouldn’t be able to catch up on. The boys were all a very smart and hard-working bunch, they complained sometimes like most teenagers do especially if Thomas punished them by making them do extra laps or push ups or something, but they did them anyways and then some. Sometimes they got a bit rowdy but they always knew how to settle down when things got serious. Of course, they still bickered a lot with each other (mainly Roman vs Logan and Virgil) but most of the times it wasn’t anything serious, like today’s topic.

“Yes, it is!” Roman said as they continued doing jumping jacks “Almost every queer person like or know the same songs!”

“Look, obviously if the song is popular most people are going to know it,” Logan scoffed “but you’re not accounting for different taste in music. It’s stereotypical to put us all under the same metaphorical umbrella because the majority know the same trashy pop song.”

“Okay, one: pop is not trashy…most pop is not trashy,” Roman stated “and two: I’m not grouping everyone into the same category, I know people have different opinions, Einstein. I’m just saying that isn’t it kind of funny that when a particular song starts to play almost every gay in a hundred foot radius will turn around and be like: Oh my god, I know that song!”

“A lot of non-queer people do that too,” Logan argued as he bent down to touch his toes “they might like that certain song as well, it isn’t exclusively for a single community.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” Roman groaned, stretching out his arms “it’s like…you play a certain song, right, and you attract certain people. The Beatles are either gunna get you those classic rockers or people raised in that era, same thing with Elvis or Selena. Play an intro to an anime and you’ll attract a lot of otakus or a song from My Fair Lady, more then likely gunna get a lot of musical geeks.”

“Is there a point to this?” Logan asked, brow arched and arms crossed.

“Hold it, Nerdlock, I’m getting to that,” Roman quipped, stretching upwards “all I’m saying is if you’re lost queer youth walking the streets of New York in a shady part of town and hear Cher’s Do You Believe In Life After Love coming from one direction and I Walk The Line by Johnny Cash coming from the other, you’re gunna more then likely follow Cher. And it may not be because you particularly like her but it’s the least likely possibility that it’ll lead you to a country sports bar full of conservative, homophobic, Trump supporters. And it’s not to say that Johnny Cash is a beloved icon among conservative, homophobic, Trump supporters but unfortunately that’s usually the crowed you attract with that type of music.”

Logan paused for a moment, frowning deeply, “But not all conservative, homophobes, Trump supporters like country music.”

“Oh my god, that’s not what I’m saying!” Roman groaned, rubbing his hands over his face.

Virgil snickered from behind them, “Forget it Princey, Logan isn’t really all that into music OR social media so most of this stuff is just gunna go over his head.”

“It just doesn’t make sense why most believe that certain groups of people like a certain genre of music,” Logan explained honestly “music is supposed to be a widespread thing that all kinds of people can listen to and enjoy.”

“Well, it’s good that you think that way Lo, music really is something that should be appreciated by all kinds of people,” Patton smiled sweetly “unfortunately not everybody thinks that way and our society has placed stereotypes on to certain types of music.”

“If we’re done questioning the morals of society and it’s god awful social norms we should continue on with our training,” Thomas pipped up, having been amused with the conversation but they really needed to get started “we’re stamina building today.”

A collective of loud groans and Virgil pipped up as their voice, “Of course, it’s fucking stamina day.”

Thomas chuckled, pulling down his mask and jumping towards the next building, “Five laps!”

\---

“It seems like so long as the material makes contact with your skin it’ll turn invisible too,” Joan said, fascinated as he looked over the schematic on the computer “I wonder if it’ll work on a larger scale?”

“Let’s try baby steps first please,” Virgil murmured, nervously fidgeting on the stool he was once again sitting on with suction cup wires on his head and neck “I don’t even know how I turned _myself_ invisible let alone other things.”

“Right, right, sorry, I’m getting a head of myself,” Joan apologized as they turned to Talyn “Any readings that may help us determine what triggers Virgil’s invisibility?”

“Hmm, so far all I’ve got is spikes of adrenalin,” Talyn informed them “which makes sense, if coming from a spider DNA then these powers would most likely be used as a defense mechanism when put in danger. Though it be useful to know if the invisibility could be triggered when not in destress or if Virgil could falsely trigger it.”

“Well, I’m always in high destress so that’s no problem.” Virgil chuckled nervously, feet swinging back and forth.

“Wait, that’s right!” Talyn exclaimed in sudden realization, though what it was Virgil didn’t know “You have anxiety right?”

Virgil corked an eyebrow, curling a bit into himself, “Yeah…why?”

Talyn stepped back a moment before continuing with a much calmer approach, “Sorry, got excited, it’s just that Thomas has anxiety too and it sometimes has a lot of effect on his powers. Over the years he’s been able to over come it and get a lot better as well as being able to use it to help him with his powers.”

“I don’t follow?” Virgil said honestly.

“When climbing walls,” Joan butted in “you have to tense your muscles a bit to help trigger the hair follicles that help you stick to things, right?”

Virgil nodded and Joan continued, “Tensing is a form of physical stress, usually the body does it when it feels stressed or in danger. But you and the others to it willingly…most times, at controlled points on your body.”

“I still don’t follow.” Virgil sighed, starting to feel very stupid right now.

“Your invisibility is triggered by a spike in adrenalin,” Talyn explained “which is due to stress, caused by being in danger. If you can artificially conger up that feeling of stress, of being in danger, you can trick your brain into that spike and maybe turn invisible.”

“But what if I can’t?” Virgil asked meekly “What if I…”

“What if you what?” Joan urged on “If you’re concerned about something please tell us Virgil, we don’t want to accidently hurt you.”

Virgil fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie, “What if I…accidently…stupidly…trigger myself to have an anxiety attack?”

“Don’t worry,” Talyn assured him, a soothing hand on Virgil’s shoulder “that’s another thing we’ll be working on as well. We’re gunna need to know your limits and what you’re comfortable with so that we can help you. But for now, me and Joan have created a temporary aid to help better control your invisibility powers.”

Joan had left to rummage through one of the work benches and came back with a metal case, carefully opening it and turning it towards Virgil. Inside siding atop spongy black foam was a Rainbow Weaver mask but this one was white with purple accents around the eyes. Talyn had been maneuvering around Virgil and removing the suction cup wires before gesturing towards the mask in the case. “Try it on.”

Virgil hesitantly reached forward, gently cradling the mask in his hands because this was most likely more then a mask and worth more then his life. He didn’t want to risk braking it and ruining all of Joan and Talyn hard work. He peeked through the opening and saw that it was just fabric, plus the lenses for the eyes. Virgil corked a suspicious eyebrow but didn’t say a word as he pushed back his hair and carefully slipped on the mask.

“How is it?” Joan asked.

Virgil shrugged, “Fine, I guess. Am I supposed to see something?”

“Not yet,” Joan replied, grabbing a nearby tablet “I have to activate it first.”

Virgil tilted his head in a very Patton like fashion, “Activate?”

Talyn nodded, “Thomas’s mask has a lot of features: telecommunication, police scanners, heat vision, night vision, and a lot of other things. You’re and the others will essentially be the same, give or take a few unique features.”

“Like helping with my invisibility?” Virgil asked dumbly, because of course he would.

“Precisely,” Joan said “what we’ve done is added a sort of mini electromagnetic pulse wave scanner to your mask. It’ll activate the exact brainwaves needed to trigger your invisibility just like we’ve been doing here with the computer but portable. Which you can activate at anytime with this button here.”

Joan carefully took Virgil’s hand, making sure it was always in Virgil’s line of sight, and guided it up towards the side of his mask. There Virgil felt tiny divots against his mask which he had not felt while holding it or while putting it on. Joan lead his finger towards a certain divot and stepped back, gesturing for Virgil to press down on it. Virgil took a breath, preparing himself for what was about to happen, closing his eyes shut and pressing the button. He didn’t really feel anything happen but by the excited noises Joan and Talyn were making he guessed that it worked and that was enough for Virgil to crack open his eyes just a bit.

“This is great!” Talyn cheered, a wide smile displayed across their face “How do you feel Virgil?”

“Uh, okay, I guess,” Virgil replied distantly, looking down at his hands and seeing nothing “kind of sort of freaking out a bit to be completely honest.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Joan said gently “you can turn it off if you want to, we just wanted to see if it worked.”

Virgil didn’t need to be told twice, hands trembling just a bit, he quickly found the button and deactivated his invisibility. He sighed out a long breath of relief, hands on his knees as he lowered down his head between them. It was still very, _very_ disorienting not being able to see yourself and essentially not existing in the visible eyes of others. It was all very existential and Virgil really didn’t want to think about it all too long.

He felt a gentle hand rub against his back and Virgil looked up to see the smiling face of Joan and Talyn, peeking out from behind their shoulder. “You okay?”

Virgil smiled thankfully though they probably couldn’t see it through the mask so he nodded instead, “Yeah, I’m good. Just got a bit freak out is all.”

“It’s all fine,” Joan assured “you can always duck out when you need to.”

There was a pause and awkward staring, as if waiting for something.

Then Virgil giggled, “I was half waiting for Patton to say: quack-quack.”

Joan and Talyn nodded, laughing along, “Same.”

“Anyways,” Talyn continued, a fond smile still on their face “now that we’ve brought up the mask, we should tell you that the rest of your costume is almost complete…kind of.”

“Kind of?” Virgil asked, taking off the mask and ruffling his hair back to maximum messy floofness.

Joan clicked away at his computer and brought up a hyper real 3D replica of a plain white full body suit with minimal purple spiderweb accents. “We have the concept of how the interior design will be, mask software as well as heating and cooling for the body. But we don’t really have a design for the exterior. We thought it be too plain to give it to you like this so why not change it up to fit your taste. Within reason of course.”

Talyn handed Virgil a tablet with a stylist pen and gestured towards the screen, “Add whatever you want.”

Virgil chewed at the inside of his lip, looking down at the tablet then back up towards Joan and Talyn before meekly asking, “Can…can I add a hoodie?”

\---

Thomas had let the group to a nearby abandon construction sight where they were quickly weaving in and out through open walls, vents, and cement tubes. The whole thing was basically a giant jungle gym, great for working on dexterity and quick reflexes. They were basically playing follow the leader, if Thomas was being honest, he maneuvered around objects in a certain way and the boys would mimic his movements as they tried to keep up.

Currently they were taking a breather and leisurely walking across large metal beams and swinging across dangling hooks. It was quiet and kind of peace, then Roman started singing, “Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!”

“So, tell me what you want, what you really, really want!” The group replied without missing a beat.

Roman laughed triumphantly, poking at Logan’s shoulder, “See, see!”

Logan huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance, “That doesn’t prove anything!”

Roman slightly lifted his bootleg Rainbow Weaver mask to stick out his tongue, “Party pooper.”

\---

“Think of your empathetic powers as a metaphorical muscle,” Talyn explained “it’s something that should be worked on and trained so that it can get stronger.”

“How do I do that?” Patton asked curiously “I thought it was just like I touch someone and feel whatever their feeling?”

“It’s a lot more then that,” Joan said thoughtfully as he rapidly typed away at his computer “without think about it you can just barely touch the surface of someone’s emotional state. Of course, if this person’s emotional state is heightened, be it negative or positive, it’s much easier to read. But you really concentrate and focus you’ll be able to get a deeper, more complex reading.”

“Hmm, I never thought of it like that,” Patton said “but how will I be able to practice if I have to constantly be in contact with someone? Won’t that be a little suspicious and weird?”

“Try doing an air scan.” Talyn suggested.

Patton tilted his head in confusion, “What’s that?”

“You’re an empathetic person by nature, even before the bite,” Talyn said “how were you able to tell how people felt before?”

Patton shrugged, “I didn’t really, it’s just…people sometimes have this air about them. I mean, sure there’s facial features and body language but sometimes people are good at hiding those so you have to be extra aware of them. Like you enter a room and you can feel the air tense up or feel relaxed and airy. Kind of like an aura…geez, I kind of sound like a hippy.”

“No, no, you’re right,” Joan reassured “people do have auras, just like all of you do. I’m sure you’ve noticed the waves of colors surrounding each of you. That is your aura and spider sense which you all can see because you’re on the same frequency. Everyone else is sort of invisible but you can still feel it, in a sense.”

Patton hummed thoughtfully, “I guess…can I ask you two a question?”

They both nodded, Talyn seeming particularly curious, “What’s on your mind Patton?”

“Well, I mean…” Patton began bashfully “I don’t really…get my powers.”

“You don’t get your powers?” Joan replied in a confused tone “I’m not sure I follow.”

“Like, I don’t understand why I have them,” Patton corrected before back tracking a little “I mean, I know why I have them, cause I got bit by a mutant creepy, crawly death dealer. But I don’t under why I have _this_ power specifically. It’s kind of…not really spider related.”

Patton had originally planned to say that these powers weren’t very useful for anything hero related. Don’t get him wrong, it’s great to know how people are feeling, he liked knowing when people are having a bad day or feeling sad so that he can help cheer them up. Very useful in dealing with stubborn friends who don’t really know how to let their walls down and talk things out. But other then that it didn’t have very much use in the super hero business.

Admittingly, Patton knew he wasn’t the best here (yet) even if he did try his gosh darnest every day. But Patton knew where his abilities were and none of them were on any use to being a hero; Logan was smart and new a lot of strategy, Roman was brave and great at adapting to new situations, and Virgil stealthy and flexible. Patton was a crybaby, clumsy, naïve, scared of spiders and the dark, was way to sensitive, and honestly not that bright. He could barely keep up with the training that they’re doing plus everyone else had cool and (most importantly) useful powers to help them become heroes. All Patton could do was tell if you were happy or not and really that kind of bummed him out a bit.

Both scientists nodded in understanding, Talyn quickly typing away on their tablet, “It has to do more with your spider sense then anything else. It tells you when you’re in danger but it can also alert you to when others are in danger as well. With you it’s been amplified a bit more and is able to pick up more than just distress.”

“Remember, humans are naturally emotional and empathetic beings,” Joan explained carefully “and god only knows what the hell else Oscorps put into that thing. Being that you’re a very sensitive and empathetic person by nature the spider’s venom latched on to that trait and mutated it because it thought it best for survival.”

“Survival?” Patton asked, very, very confused now.

“Prime animal instincts is to survive,” Talyn filled in “they either adapt to their environment in order or evolve using the traits they have. Animals and insects are very sensitive to emotions since they don’t have any other way of communication other then body language. So, your empathy is actually really natural and could potentially become a great asset in missions.”

“Really?” Patton said excitingly, a fiery determination in his eyes.

Joan smiled at the teen’s enthusiasm, “Absolutely, if you can build up your power strong enough to the point where you don’t have to be in physical contact with someone to sense them, you can essentially use it as a sort of echo location. Great for stealth missions.”

“What can I do to help build it up faster?” Patton asked enthusiastically.

“Take it slow,” Talyn warned “you could really hurt yourself if you push yourself too far. Like I said before: think of your powers like a muscle. You slowly build it up over time so that it can properly and safely carry the weight you want it to. If you dump that weight all in one go you could end up hurting yourself.”

Patton bit his lip ashamed, “Sorry, I, uh, got excited.”

“It’s fine,” Talyn soothed “it’s fine to get excited but you also have to remember that you all are still training. Still new to all of this, so you have to be careful because not only could you hurt yourselves but you could also accidently hurt others around you.”

“We just want to make sure that everybody is safe,” Joan added “there’s no need to rush into things. Take it at your own pace and I can guarantee you that your powers will flourish naturally on their own.”

Patton gave them both a small appreciative smile, their words did make him feel a little better about himself. He found comfort in knowing he’ll be able to contribute to the team even just a little, but even so he’ll work extra hard to be the best hero he can be. “Where should I start?”

“Try to sense the people in the house,” Talyn suggested “take a deep breath, close your eyes, and try to focus on the energy around you. See if you can try and distinguish each person from their aura, though it might be a bit harder to catch on to mine and Joan’s aura since we’re fully human.”

“I’ll bring up the security cameras on screen to see if you’re right or wrong,” Joan said “though knowing their location isn’t the important part, it’s weather you can sense them or not.”

“Alright, let’s try it.” Patton said with a determined nod, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath just like Talyn had said. A few moments passed before Patton peeked open an eye, “I don’t think it’s working.”

“It’s gunna take a minute,” Joan explained “remember you can’t rush into it, take your time and ease yourself into it.”

Patton nodded again, reclosing his eyes and taking a much slower breath, in for four, hold for seven, out for eight. The world became dark and quiet around him but Patton wasn’t scared, he instead focused on the energy curled up inside his chest and let it seep out in every direction. It stretched and curled around the room, not really sure where it was supposed to go, until it finally hit something, two somethings actually. They were a bit fuzzy but Patton was soon able to see a warm, bright orange figure with swirls of soft browns stood a few feet in front of him, along side a neon magenta figure with electric pops of black, neon green and blue.

“I can see you guys!” Patton exclaimed, excitingly wiggling in his chair “You’re so colorful!”

“What else can you see?” Talyn’s voice urged on curiously.

Patton focused a bit more, his energy stretching out and winding up stairs in endless directions until it hit something else. Swirls of dark blues with dots of bright grey that light up like a galaxy of stars, humming like a soothing melody, it was so beautiful. Patton cheeks warmed and a smile appeared across his face, “I think I found Logan, he seems to be in the living room, probably reading. Thomas has a little reading nook by the window that he likes to occupy when he isn’t busy with training or homework.”

He heard a fond chuckle from both of them before Joan asked him to continue, “Can you find the others?”

Reluctantly, Patton pulled himself away from Logan’s aura, his mind still tingling with buzzing warmth as it moved on towards other places. He felt it stop at the kitchen where it bumped into two more figures, one a bright sheen of white with streaks of red and gold, dramatically dancing and singing, the other a dark storm of blacks and purples and white lighting that felt cozy to listen to. Patton giggled, “Roman and Virgil are in the kitchen, more then likely arguing about something or another. Their auras seemed pretty riled up so it’s more likely they’re arguing about Disney again.”

“All that leaves is Thomas,” Joan said “you think you can do it? Or would you rather take a brake now?”

“No, I’m fine,” Patton assured “I think I can find him, let me see…”

He let his energy freely float around the entire first floor but still he could not find Thomas anywhere. After collecting himself a bit Patton twisted himself towards the second flight of stairs up to the second floor. He spread himself out once more looking through every nook and cranny each room and hallway had to offer but still no sign of his mentor. Collecting himself once more Patton decided he should try going further up, weaving through the attic and up to the roof where he was hit with a burst of technicolor.

“Found him,” Patton announced, giggling at the rainbow light show displaying behind his eyelids “he’s like a homing beacon you light up when it gets super foggy. I was wondering why I hadn’t been able to find him sooner, turns out he’s just on the roof. He feels…a little down.”

“It’s like that sometimes,” Talyn sighed sadly “he’ll sometimes go up there to clear his head. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine when he comes down, just needs a bit of space right now. You can open your eyes now, be make sure to ease out of it slowly. The state you’re in is very open and delicate and we don’t want you to get overwhelmed by all your senses.”

Patton nodded, his energy collecting back into himself and slowly slinking his way down, down, down, from the roof, the attic, the second floor, the first floor, down the stairs, and back to the basement. He took another slow breath; in for four, hold for seven, out for eight…and slowly let his senses fully comeback to him. He could feel the world around him move once more, becoming more lively and clear instead of a muffled echo. Carefully and slowly Patton opened his eyes to find Joan and Talyn in the same spots, staring at him curiously.

“Did…did I do good?” Patton asked shyly.

“You did amazing!” Joan smiled, stepping aside to show the computer screen which displayed which displayed different sections of the house through black and white security cameras. Three of them were brought forward for closer inspection and as predicted Logan was in the living room reading by the nook, Roman and Virgil were in the kitchen and looked to be in a very heated debate about something, and Thomas was lounging on the roof, looking off towards the city skyline. “Even better we previously predicted!”

“And that’s because your powers are fairly new and haven’t been practiced on much,” Talyn added proudly “imagine what else you could do with them, even just a little bit of training.”

Patton flushed a deep crimson, shyly coving up his smile with the neck of his shirt, “I mean…I did okay, I guess.”

“Hey,” Joan said softly, placing a firm hand on Patton’s shoulder “give yourself credit where credit is due. You can do this Patton, you’re capable of so much more then you think.”

“Aw geez, thanks you guys.” Patton muttered bashfully, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“Now, on to more fun business,” Talyn clapped their hands excitedly as they reached for another tablet along with a styles. The computer behind them displayed a 3-D design of a plain white spider suite with pink web accents. “We’ve finished calibrating all the equipment you’ll need fitted for your suit but we decided that each of you will design the exterior. Put in a little bit of yourselves in the costumes you’ll wear, add on anything you want. Within reason of course.”

“Can I not have a spider logo on it?” Patton asked hesitantly “I mean I’m fine with the spiderwebs but not with the spider.”

Joan nodded, “That’s fine, anything else?”

Patton thought for a moment before beginning to doodle over the image on the tablet, “Can I wear a hat?”

\---

They moved on to wall climbing now, nothing too fancy, very much like running laps except that they’re climbing up and down the side of a building. First, they climbed forwards, then backwards, then sideways, just to make sure they were proficient in every angle. It was actually really boring but Thomas told them it was something that was necessary so that they can get use to sticking and unsticking to stuff. He told them that just like walking wall climbing should become second nature to them so they’ll have a much better time controlling what they’ll be able to stick to.

Right now, they were learning how to walk up the side of the building without using their hands. It looked much easier than it actually was, your body had to be stiff and tense so that it could hold itself up because gravity wanted to pull the rest of you down. It had the same feeling as if you were climbing up hill with a ton of rocks strapped to your back.

But even with all the moaning and groaning that came with the strain of walking sideways up a building, Roman still had enough energy and focus in him to sing, “I get so emotional, baby!”

“Every time I think of you!” The group sang back, almost instinctively, even as some of them momentarily lost their balance.

Roman snickered while Logan rolled his eyes as he re-centered himself, “It’s a popular song Roman, of course a lot of people are going to know it!”

\---

“Let’s try something,” Joan said as they lined up a few glass bottles on a table a few feet across where Roman was sitting, once more attached to suction cup wires. “Your vocal projection powers are very spread out, when activated the sound disperses throughout the entire room. But I want to see if you can train it to focus on one point, that way you can have a little bit more control over it.”

“How would I go about doing that?” Roman asked, absentmindedly tugging on one of the suction cup wires. Talyn gently swatted his hand away and gave him a friendly smile, “Taking a breath first would do you well, you seem a bit nervous.”

“Whaaaat? Me nervous? Never!” Roman scoffed flippantly before meekly ducking his head when both scientists gave him an unconvinced look “Okay…maybe a little.”

“It’s okay be to be uneasy Roman,” Joan said soothingly, walking forward to place a hand on the teen’s shoulder “these are brand new things happening to your body all at once. It’s okay for it to be a little scary, just know that we’re here to help you through it. Which means we need to know when you’re uncomfortable so we know where your limit is. The absolute last thing we want is to unintentionally hurt you.”

Roman bit his bottom lip nervously, eyes down casted as he fidgeted in his chair, “I mean, isn’t the whole point of this plus the training about me being able to go _past_ my limit? Superheroes aren’t meant to have limits or walls and stuff, right?”

“Yeah, no, unfortunately that is a very common misconception,” Joan said with a frown “remember, behind the mask heroes are still people just like everybody else.”

“Plus, weather you like it or not, you’re still a kid,” Talyn added firmly “you’re still growing and learning about things and how to live life. This responsibility you boys have is going to make you grow up so fast it’s not even funny. So, you’re gunna have to be care in everything you do, know your limits and learn when to duck out if needed.”

“It’s absolutely okay not to be perfect at everything,” Joan said gently “you’re still human.”

“Thomas said that people don’t take too kindly when heroes make mistakes,” Roman mumbled nervously “I just…I don’t want to let anybody down. Even if I am young and stupid and reckless, I want to show people that they can count on me and that I’m able to do things without fucking them up.”

“That’s another unfortunate truth to being a superhero,” Joan sighed tiredly, rubbing the back of their neck “though I don’t think Thomas said that to discourage you, more as a warning. He doesn’t want you boys to get hurt, be it physically or emotionally, the public’s words can be…harsh.”

It was quiet for a moment, Roman chewing at the inside of his cheek as he thought over their conversation. He wasn’t an official superhero yet but as time when on and their training progressed Roman, admittingly, was getting a bit nervous. Thomas, Rainbow Weaver, both, were these huge inspirations to the world. One brought joy through entertainment and activism and the other saved lives on the daily, both were idols and had enormous shoes to fill. Though Roman knew he shouldn’t be comparing himself to Thomas since the older man had a lot more years under his belt but it was still difficult. Roman wanted to be a hero that everybody would be proud of, that Thomas would be proud of…that his dad could be proud of.

“Do you think…” Roman took a deep steady breath, calming his racing mind before asking “…do you think everybody will hate me at one point?”

“Probably,” Talyn said with a melancholy smile “like Joan said: public opinion can be very harsh. But so long as _you_ know that you’re doing good that’s all that should really matter. It’ll be difficult but thankfully you boy all have one advantage.”

“What’s that?” Roman asked curiously.

“You have each other,” Joan helpfully provided, a bit of enthusiasm behind their voice “you’re not alone in this, remember that.”

Roman shrugged, a soft smile appearing on his face, “Eh, I guess so.”

“Shall we move on to our experiment?” Talyn asked gently “Or do you need a bit more time?”

“Mmh, I’m good to go if you two are,” Roman hummed thoughtfully “plus, I think I thought of something that might help.”

“By all means, go right ahead.” Joan said, stepping away from the table lined with bottles and standing next to Talyn behind Roman.

Roman stared at the bottles with full concentration, taking a couple of deep breaths before a sharp high-pitched whistle was heard. A gust of wind blew in their faces as the sound traveled right through the center of the table, shattering three bottles. Roman grimaced, “Sorry, I tried to aim for just one but…”

“No, no, this is great!” Talyn exclaimed excitedly, patting his shoulder “We totally forgot that pitch and range have a lot to do vocal precision. Whistling is a much more easier to controlled then vocal range, which is why the last time you used these powers it got a bit out of control. You were dispersing the sound waves all over the place because you sang in a much wider range of sound unlike right now where it was more controlled.”

“Oh, well I was just kind of thinking that whistling was more like…” Roman gestured forward with his hand “…an arrow that could shoot straight ahead while riffing was more…earthquake-y?”

“Yeah, that’s basically what Talyn was saying,” Joan chuckled, ruffling over Roman’s hair “but the fact that you were able to come up with that conclusion on your own is very impressive.”

Roman smiled shyly, a swell of pride bloomed throughout his chest, “Yeah, well, I was mainly just thinking back to my vocal lessons in theater class and how Mr. Bell used to teach us about projection and controlled range.”

“Well, there’s another thing we’ll need to study up on,” Talyn said with a weary smile “maybe Thomas can help us, he did double major with theater.”

“True,” Joan nodded before turning back to Roman “you think you could try hitting the rest of these bottles?”

Roman nodded with confidence, “Absolutely.”

They spent the rest of their time running more test with Roman and how wide of a range his sonic wave could be. It could go from bullet precision to catastrophic earthquake levels of damage. They also tried to figure out what triggered would trigger the power to activate but were unsuccessful in their findings. So they left it dormant once more until Roman could have enough control over it so that he won’t accidently blow out the speakers in the theater or cause a building to collapse while singing in the shower. By the end of it Roman was able to shatter each bottle individuating and was very proud of himself for accomplishing that goal.

“I think we have sufficient data for today,” Talyn said as they reached over to grab another tablet and styles pen “now for the fun part.”

Roman was handed over the items before being gestured to look at the computer screen in front of him which displayed a 3-D model of a white spider suit with red web accents. Roman wiggled in excitement, “Is that my suit?”

“Not quite,” Joan said with an enthusiastic glimmer in his eyes “the internal structure is finished but the outside still needs to be designed. So long as it’s within reason you can add anything you want.”

“Anything I want?” Roman smiled mischievously with a tone that sounded like trouble.

“Within reason.” Joan repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Roman thought a moment before that mischievous smirk returned to his face, “Boots?”

“Sure, why not?” Talyn shrugged, though they knew that wasn’t the end of it, not by a long shot.

“Gold boots with red accents?” Roman asked.

“Doable.” Joan nodded.

“Roses?” Roman hummed, tapping his chin with the styles pen as he doodled over the blank canvas that would soon be his suit.

“Real or designed on the suit?” Talyn questioned.

“Designed on the suit, duh,” Roman said as he sketched out another idea “what am I gunna do with real roses?”

“Throw it around like confetti?” Joan chuckled.

“Don’t tempt me,” Roman smirked “what about a cape?”

“Why do you want a cape?” Talyn asked “It’s like the least useful accessory you could ever have!”

“Thomas has a cape.” Roman countered.

“They’re gliders!” Joan exclaimed, irritation clear on their face “I’ve been arguing with people for years on this, I’m not gunna start again! They’re gliders end of story.”

Roman huffed out a laugh, “Okay geez, but still can I have a cape?”

“I draw the line at capes,” Talyn said firmly “they serve no purpose what so ever! Absolutely useless!”

“Come on!” Roman whined “They’re super cool though!”

“Have you not seen the Incredibles?” Joan said desperately “Those things are a fucking death trap!”

“Then I’ll die looking fabulous!” Roman said stubbornly.

“Look,” Talyn sighed tiredly “how ‘bout we replace the cape with a vest that has a long-ish tail and throw in an anime scarf, deal?”

Roman frowned, silently thinking over his options before a sly smirk slid across his face and he stuck out his hand to shake, “Deal.”

Joan and Talyn glared at him suspiciously, “You bamboozled us, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I kind of did.” Roman giggled.

\---

Thomas has slowly been teaching them how to use the web shooters, there apparently was a lot more to them then just shoot and swing. They had projectiles, pre made netting, extra sticky, different densities, and even an exploding one! (Thomas said that it was only to be used in absolutely desperate situations) In other words, it was much more complex then the boys had previously thought. Since Roman and Virgil could produce their own webbing they only had to work with the web shooters about half the time, the other half working with their natural webbing. But Thomas had told them that it was better for them to use artificial webbing instead of their own because they’d tier out quicker otherwise.

Currently they were doing what Thomas called reverse rope climbs, where they’d shoot a string of web up on the ceiling and retract it back in to pull themselves up before letting it back out and slowly lowering themselves down. Again, seemed simple enough but it was actually hell to do in real life. Still, the boys were getting better as their training continued on, shooting with more accuracy then when they first started out and a bit more muscle on them so that they could hold on longer.

And of course, this was absolutely the perfect moment for Roman to burst out into song, “Let’s have a kiki, I wanna have a kiki!”

“Lock the doors tight!” They all replied.

“Let’s have a kiki!” Patton chimed in.

“Motherfucker.” Virgil mumbled.

“I’m gunna let you have it!” Thomas sang.

Logan gave a sideways glare towards Roman who smiled haughtily in his direction. He merely shook his head in reply, ignoring the theatrical teen’s antics and continued to climb up his web rope. Roman pouted, calling up to him, “Just admit I’m right!”

“I rather chew off my own foot!” Logan called back.

\---

Logan didn’t really have much to work on power wise, which he was fine with, night vision didn’t require a lot of training. Though it did make remembering to turn ON the lights at home a bit difficult, his parents have caught him reading in the dark a couple times. But other than that, there wasn’t much for Logan to work on, so why did Joan and Talyn call for them to meet one on one?

He knew about the other’s extra training with them so that they could better understand and control their new powers. But as far as Logan knew he was perfectly fine in that area and Thomas could probably teach him all that he needed to know. Yet still they called for him.

“So,” Joan began, wiggling a finger in front of Logan’s face “a little birdy told us that you hacked into the US Pentagon when you were in 7th grade.”

Logan flushed pink, nervously straightening out his tie, “Technically, it was me AND Morgan but…who told you that? Was it Virgil?” Logan muttered under his breath “Asshole, I swore him to secrecy! And so did the FBI!”

“Don’t worry, we have our own way of finding out things,” Talyn chuckled “but that’s quite impressive, even if you did have help. Me and Joan couldn’t hack the Pentagon until senior year of high school.”

Logan shrugged, “Everybody has hacked the Pentagon once in their life, they have a very flimsy security system. You’d think they’d learn to beef up their security after being hacked so many times but sadly no. I have no idea how they keep functioning like this.”

“I’m pretty sure Tony Stark had something to do with it,” Joan theorized “he’s hacked into the Pentagon enough times to know what’s going on in there. Probably installed a secret security system to encrypt the REALLY important stuff.”

“It’s possible,” Logan said thoughtfully “unless the Pentagon is just a coverup to distract from the real secrets hidden away elsewhere.” He paused, remembering the question he previously wanted to ask “Other than discussing the Pentagon’s atrocious security system, uh, why was I called down here. Have I done something wrong?”

“No, not at all,” Talyn assured “on the contrary, we brought up the Pentagon situation because we thought you could help us with a little…project of ours.”

“Project?” Logan asked, a small hint of excitement in his voice “What kind of project?”

“Well, remember when we brought up Tony Stark?” Joan said as he rapidly typed away on the large computer, bringing up the Stark Industries’ website.

Logan’s eyes widen in shock, “You want me to hack into Stark Industries?”

“Not exactly,” Joan said “we’re using Stark Industries as more of a back door to enter into the SHEILD data base and using that as a back door to enter into the Avengers’ data base.”

“Why go through all the trouble of hacking through Stark and SHEILD?” Logan asked curiously “Wouldn’t it be easier to just head hack into the Avengers’ data base since up front? I mean it is the end goal to all of this is it not?”

“We thought so too,” Talyn began to explain, bringing up a diagram of sorts on screen “at first we had thought that all three industries were separate since they were three different companies. And that used to be the case until that whole Hydra fiasco a few years back, long story short they now all function with Stark technology.”

“And we all know how well Stark’s security system runs,” Joan added, gesturing towards the diagram, a large circle with a smaller circle inside going inside of smaller circles and so on “I can’t believe I’m going to say this but think of it as an onion and we all know that onions have layers. Before we can even think about snooping through the Avengers’ files and data logs, we have to go through Stark’s security system then SHIELD’s security system then finally the Avengers’ security system.”

Logan nodded in understanding but he still had more questions, “Why do you want to look thru the Avengers’ data base?”

Talyn gave him a forced smile, irritation clearly visible on their face but it was not directed at Logan, “Let’s just say that Tony Stark has a way of pissing off the wrong people-”

“They mean us.” Joan said honestly.

Talyn continued without waiting, “…and he sometimes has to be reminded that his actions have consequences and he’s not the only genius in the world.”

“He hacked into our system and copied some data about Rainbow Weaver so that he can file and save it for SHEILD and maybe the Avengers protocol,” Joan filled in “honestly, he could have just asked us and we probably would have given it to him because it’s the Avengers. If they ever need an extra set of helping hands we would have been on tab for them but no! Tony Stark can’t ask for ANYTHING to be handed to him so he has to be a little shit!”

“So, this is a revenge plan?” Logan questioned, trying to see if he had all the facts right.

Talyn shrugged nonchalantly, “Yeah, pretty much. We understand if you don’t wan-”

“Okay.” Logan cut in with a small shrug of his own.

“Okay, what?” Joan and Talyn asked tentatively.

“I’ll help you.” Logan replied coolly.

“Really?” The duo exclaimed in surprise.

Logan shrugged again before giving them a mischievous smile, “Truth be told I’ve always wanted to see what the inside of Stark’s security system looks like. Figure out how everything works and all.”

Talyn fist pumped the air, “Yes! We’re coming to get you Stark! You Gucci sunglasses wearing mother fucker!”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Prada.” Joan said.

“Actually, it’s Chopard.” Logan corrected, already having rolled up his sleeves as he rapidly typed away at the key board of the large main computer. “I see that he’s been using the Lava Lamp coding technique, so this is going to take a while.”

“You’re telling me,” Talyn replied, sitting next to him with their own tablet connected to the computer “there’s not goddamn pattern with this type of coding, it’s a pain in the ass!”

“Don’t you two use a similar kind of coding with your system?” Logan asked “How was he able to hack into it?”

“That’s another thing we’re trying to find out,” Joan said, sitting on Logan’s other side with a laptop “though I’m pretty sure he had that stupid AI of his do it for him.”

“Ah yes, he has an AI controlling his system,” Logan said thoughtfully “that’ll be even more tricky to get around. I had read an article discussing his AI and how he programed it and the article said that it was the most advanced AI in the world, it even passed the Turing test.”

“No need to discourage us even more.” Joan half joked.

“No, not discouraging just…” Logan paused a moment, thinking deeply “…what would you think would happen if an AI and an AI stopped to talk to each other.”

“Not sure I’m following.” Talyn admitted.

“Yeah, I’m kind of lost here too.” Joan added.

“We could go at it from all angles and it would still be able to catch us,” Logan explained “but if we have, say, an AI of our own Stark’s AI will be forced to overt all of it’s attention towards it because it’s supposedly a major threat. Meanwhile, we would have a chance to sneak passed it, find an encryption key and bypass all the barriers with ease.”

“I guess that could work,” Joan said “but that means we’d have to build an entire AI from scratch that is equal to that of Stark’s AI. And that’s another tedious thing all by itself.”

“And that could take months, maybe even years, to code and build,” Talyn added “at this point I think it’s better to make a mess of ourselves and cause chaos throughout Stark’s system then take on a task that’ll slow us down immensely.”

“Not quite,” Logan said distantly, rapidly typing over the key board once again “if I can find the base coding Stark used to build his AI I can ultimately use it as a structure to make one for ourselves.”

“How would we even go about doing that?” Joan asked curiously.

“Fake virus,” Logan said simply “the system will pull me in to be terminated but of course it won’t work at first so I’ll have time to look around until the system updates itself and finds out how to properly get rid of me.”

“Then why couldn’t we just use that to hack into the system?” Talyn asked.

“Because the coding I use for it is pretty weak and flimsy since it’s only meant for quick in and out missions,” Logan explained “I wouldn’t be able to make a strong enough overlayer to disguise us long enough without rising a lot of suspicion and having the entire AI’s security system on my ass.”

They both nodded and waited for Logan to continue, “But if I’m able to find at least the majority of Stark’s AI’s base coding we’ll be able to use it as we’ll be able to use it as a structure to build our AI around and have it done in, say, a few weeks.”

“So, essentially, we’ll be using his own work against him?” Talyn asked.

Logan smiled slyly, “Essentially, yes.”

Talyn slung their arm over Logan’s shoulder and gave him a hardy squeeze, “You absolute, evil little genius! Where have you been all my life?”

“It’s no wonder you’re on the FBI watch list.” Joan chuckled good-naturedly, ruffling Logan’s hair.

“Speaking of which, this won’t be going on my record right?” Logan asked pointedly.

“Oh, don’t worry we’re government funded,” Talyn explained “technically we’re higher ranked then the FBI so you’re good so long as you have our permission and we’re here supervise.”

“Excellent,” Logan cheered softly “this’ll take but a moment. And afterwards…may I ask a favor from both of you as well?”

“If you can help us do this, we’ll get you anything you want,” Joan offered dramatically “you want access to Area 51? Boom! We’ll get you that access!”

Logan chuckled softly, shaking his head, “No thank you, though the offer is tempting. I was just wondering if you two could help me with a little project of my own.”

“Sure, what is it?” Talyn asked.

“Uh, well,” Logan kneeled to rummage through his backpack, coming back ups with a worn-down spiral notebook stuffed with notes “so, I heard that we would be personalizing our costumes and I was wondering if I could add something?”

He opened the note book and flipped through several pages before stopping at a particular set of notes. There was a sketch of four robotic spider limbs coming out from a mechanical looking back pack, along with more notes that explained how it would function. Joan and Talyn took turns looking over the notes as Logan silently continued his work, unknowingly holding his breath in anticipation. Once he was finished and had gotten all the data he needed Logan turned back towards the two scientists who’ve been suspiciously quiet the entire time.

They were still looking through Logan’s note book, past his spider leg design and skimming through the rest of his notes from different projects. Logan fidgeted nervously, they both seemed so intense while looking through his notes and Logan couldn’t help but wonder if they were unimpressed by them. Most of his projects were theoretical because he would never in his life have the funding to actually build them, so he wasn’t sure if any of them were even possible. That included the spider leg design he made, he had spent weeks rewriting the design and scale and mechanisms that would go with it. He wanted to make absolutely sure that they would be possible to build, but he had no way to test them so he only had his mind and imagination to help him through it.

Joan and Talyn were world renowned robotic and biological engineers that were government funded to help their best friend watch over Manhattan. They were creators of amazing technology they built themselves that take inspiration from many other famous scientists but is still uniquely theirs. They were just…really cool and Logan kind of sort of looked up to them just as much as he looked up to Thomas, so he really, really wanted to impress them.

Joan was the first to speak, smiling big and wide, “Logan, these are incredible!”

“Did you design these all yourself?” Talyn exclaimed, eyes glittering in awe and excitement.

Logan blushed, bashfully rubbing at his wrists as he tried to give a nonchalant shrug, “Yes…but I haven’t really built or tested most of them so I’m not sure they’re even remotely possible.”

“Oh, anything is possible if you’re stubborn enough,” Joan quipped “what I’m more impressed with is how accurately structured these are, _especially_ since you haven’t tested any of them. Like, we can’t even come up with stuff this precise without fucking up a few prototypes.”

“How were you able to do all this?” Talyn asked “Did you run it through a program to test it through at least digitally?”

“Uh, no,” Logan said, a shy smile appearing on his face “I just kind of, think about it in my head and write down how I think the structure and dimension would be like.”

“All in your head?” Talyn gasped in awe, Logan nodded and they squealed in excitement “Logan, that’s amazing!”

Logan didn’t think his face could get any redder, nor did he think the fluttery feeling in his chest could get any warmer. He wasn’t really used to being praised so openly and with such enthusiasm, it felt…nice. Really nice, and Logan just wanted to hold on to that feeling for as long as he could.

\---

They were taking a brake on a nearby roof, Thomas having provided drinks and snacks like always. The weather was starting to get colder as September reached its peak but thankfully today was just the right amount of breezy to cool down their over heated bodies. It was quiet, nothing but the breeze and bustle of the city as background noise while the group munched away on their snacks and silently enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice, very relaxing.

And of course, Roman had to ruin it, “You are my fire!”

“Oh my god!” Logan groaned, flopping onto his back.

“The one desire!” Patton chimed in enthusiastically.

“Seriously!” Logan said, exasperated.

“Believe when I say!” Thomas sang with a laugh.

“It’s Backstreet Boys!” Logan exclaimed “Everybody knows Backstreet Boys!”

“I want it that way!” Virgil cackled while Logan glared at him in betrayal “Virgil, I trusted you!”

Roman jumped up to his feet to strike a pose, “Tell me why!”

“Ain't nothin' but a heartache!” The other three joined in with him and Logan could only lay star fished on the ground hoping he look dead to the world.

“Tell me why!”

“Ain't nothin' but a mistake!”

“Tell me why!” Roman pointed an invisible mike down towards Logan who sighed and mumbled in reply “I never want to hear you say…”

“Whoa!” Roman cheered.

“I want it that way!” They finished with a dramatic group pose kneeling around Logan.

“I hope all of you know that you’ve officially wasted thirty whole seconds of my life,” Logan grumbled “I’m thirty more seconds closer to death, are you all happy?”

“Drama queen.” Roman snickered.

\---

Thomas watched amusingly as Joan and Talyn moved back and forth between the boys’ suits, putting on the finishing touches. He was brought in to provide a third opinion on weather or not the boys would like them. Obviously, they would and Thomas said just that but for some reason Joan and Talyn kept fretting over them, adding this or recalibrating that or “do you think it be a bit too constricting in the chest area for Roman?” or “Virgil gets cold really easily, make sure the thermal software is working properly!” or “make sure the pants on the suit fit Logan well, that boys got legs for days and I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable!” or “I noticed that Patton’s feet are a bit flat so I added extra cushion in the shoe to help him out a bit!” And so on and so forth.

“What’s with the face?” Joan asked, as they fiddled with the pack attached to Logan’s suit which held four long, metallic spider legs.

“Oh nothing,” Thomas replied smugly “just irony.”

Talyn gave him a raised eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you two are a bunch so hypocrites,” Thomas snickered “you guys kept giving me shit for being maternal and being manipulated by puppy dog eyes yet here you two are giving them state of the art suits that are probably MUCH more advanced than mine.”

“Yeah, well they’re kids!” Talyn countered “Didn’t we want them to be safe? We’re just upgrading the suits a little bit and adding a few extra safety precautions.”

“Does Roman really need that long ass anime scarf and tail coat?” Thomas asked with a smirk.

They were quiet for a moment before Joan dramatically exclaimed, “He bamboozled us!”

Thomas stuck out his pinky and twirled it around, “Wrapped around their little finger, all of us, we never stood a chance against them.”

Talyn sighed in defeat, “Tell me about it. Anyways, I think we’re about done with the suits. What do you think? Think the boys will like them?”

Thomas could definitely tell who each suit belonged too, they were all so uniquely different and specifically fitted to their person. Virgil’s suit was a mix of violet along his arms, legs, and waist, and white with a hint of lavender. The top part was like a baggy hoodie but still meshed flawlessly with the rest of the suit and of course the shoes were purple ballet slippers tied up with ribbon. Patton’s suit was mixed with various shades of pink, minimal web design and absolutely covered in hearts. There was a pink baseball cap attached on top of his mask, a ribbon tied around his waist, and a pink cardigan wrapped around his shoulders. Roman’s suit was just as dramatic as he was; white with accents of red and gold, ruffled sleeves, and of course the long tail coat and scarf. He had an intricately designed half mask which didn’t cover over his hair and held a reddish gold feather on the side of his head. Logan’s suit was the most technologically advanced and also the most formal looking, with mixes of dark blue. Of course, he had a tie and a practical half mask as well, and the spider legs attached to the back reminded Thomas of that little alien from Invader Zim who had a similar looking set.

Over all, these suites were absolutely amazing, Thomas smiled proudly at his friends, “They’re gunna love them!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos!!!
> 
> Songs Sung:  
> Wannabe by Spice Girls  
> So Emotional by Whitney Houston  
> Let's Have A Kiki by Scissor Sisters  
> I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys
> 
> Logan Suit: https://sugarglider9603.tumblr.com/image/181445337729  
> Patton Suit: https://sugarglider9603.tumblr.com/image/181469333304  
> Roman Suit: https://sugarglider9603.tumblr.com/image/181508257229  
> Virgil Suit 1: https://sugarglider9603.tumblr.com/image/181942606159  
> Virgil’s Suit 2: http://ask-spiderverse-virgil.tumblr.com/post/181510097724/daily-44-spiderverse-virgil
> 
> Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/T6T5RY75  
> Commission Info: https://hi-i-love-u-bitch.tumblr.com/post/183452653792/ive-open-a-ko-fi


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